The Vampires' Playground
by lozlol
Summary: And Caroline thought that losing her family and discovering she was a princess would be the worst part of her day... now she's been thrown into the vampires' playground and she has no idea if she'll come out alive. Klaroline/Elejah/Kennet/Kolvina/Bonora/Noralise/Stebekah/Stelena/Delena T mainly with a tiny bit of M
1. Lies

_**More in depth summary:**_

 _ **Caroline Fell discovers she is really a Forbes princess and before she knows what's going on she's being sent to the Mikaelson kingdom, along her with her adviser Bonnie. Four other royals are betrothed to the five Mikaelsons and Caroline has to struggle to fit into this new world, but that's not her only problem. There's something dark and dangerous going on this new world and the Original siblings are plotting a revolution.**_

 _ **Chapter 1:**_

 _ **May 1492**_

"Caroline!" Her mother called out desperately. The blonde girl pushed a piece of hair back with one hand and held the pail of water with the other.

"Just a minute Mother."

"Can you come now?" Her father's voice shouted suddenly, but it wasn't a question it was a command. Her father was there too, something was wrong. Caroline quickly made her way through to the next room, only to gasp as she saw someone stood in it who looked entirely out of a place. He wore the royal colours while they wore rags. He stood straight and regal while they tried not to slouch. And he held a piece of parchment in his hands.

"Miss Caroline Fell?" He asked. Her older siblings Meredith and Logan appeared at the door, jaws dropping. She found herself nodding, though she wasn't sure how. The man unfurled his parchment and then cleared his throat. "Their majesties, King William and Queen Elizabeth do heartily command the arrival of Miss Caroline Fell to the castle." The king and queen? Wanted her? To come to the castle? What was going on? She turned to her parents.

"Caroline, there is something we have not told you," Tobias said. "Something we did not know when we would have to do." He paused a moment, as if knowing this would shake the very foundations of her world. "You are not my daughter." And indeed it did. Caroline didn't say anything, she couldn't seem to, no matter how hard she tried. Her mother had been unfaithful, and she the apparent bastard child was getting punished for it? She was getting killed for it? Then, "you are not our daughter." That took her a few moments to process. OUR? As in either of them. She didn't realise she'd said it out loud until she noticed everyone looking at her. "No," her father repeated, though could she even call him that anymore? "You were placed into our care when you were a babe to keep you safe from the war, but the war is over now. Your true family will want you returned to them." So she was going to the castle to be sent elsewhere, to her 'true family'? "Your true name is Caroline Elizabeth, princess of the Kingdom of Light." Princess? Caroline put her head in her hands, counting to ten in her head, praying this was all a dream. Sure, life in the village was dangerous, sometimes dull and full of disease, but this was where her family was, this was where her friends were, or rather her friend, she only had the one, Matt. Still, she couldn't just leave him here! Sure he'd have his other friend Tyler, but they'd never been as close as she and Matt, and honestly, she couldn't bear to lose him forever.

"The king and queen await your arrival," Reminded the bearer of bad news. She wanted to slap him, perhaps that would convince them she was not princess worthy and they would leave her here. She glanced over to her older siblings for help. Meredith looked upset but Logan's face was blank of emotion, as were her parents'. "We should be going." Doing the most rebellious thing she could think of at that moment, Caroline propelled herself forward and hugged her sister. She and Meredith both sobbed into each other's' shoulders for a moment while the others stood shocked, but then Logan went into action and pulled his sisters apart.

"Logan!" Tobias hissed. "You should not touch her highness."

"I am greatly remorseful for my son's behaviour m'lady," Her mother stared at the floor. What in Hell was going on? This morning she'd been their daughter and in a matter of seconds because of some stupid scroll she was 'her highness' and 'm'lady'. Logan was apologising too now, but then reminding her to tell their majesties how well she had been treated here. That high reaching, damnable bastard, but he was also her brother, or at least he had been. She couldn't find it in her to curse him like she wanted to, so instead she just gave Meredith one quick but longing glance and then she followed the man out of the house that she had spent her life growing up in.

* * *

After lifting her up into the carriage waiting outside so that she didn't step in one of those muddy puddles she used to spend hours jumping in with Matt, the man went to the front of the carriage to drive it. Suddenly Caroline noticed a figure opposite her. "Who are you?" She asked, not really taking care with her tone at the moment.

The girl, for Caroline saw that was what she was now, just a young girl, like her, smiled. "I'm Bonnie, your advisor." Caroline didn't know all that much about servants but an advisor certainly sounded like one, although the other girl looked more like a rich lady than a servant, what with her silky hair, her velvety green dress and by the way she sat so demurely with her hands on her lap. She certainly looked a lot more like a princess than Caroline herself.

"Why don't you look like me then, if you're a servant?" That was probably quite wrong too but oh well, Caroline would be doing a lot wrong in the next few months she supposed, might as well start now.

"That's because I'm an advisor." Bonnie laughed. "I like you," she declared. "You have fire and you are so different than anyone else I have ever met."

Caroline shrugged, "I suppose that is because I do not know how to behave like royalty, because I am not royalty."

"I'll help you," Bonnie smiled. "But don't lose the person that you are now, always keep her with you, she seems a nice girl."

* * *

It just over half an hour later of both friendly and royal chat with her adviser wherein she learnt a lot about Bonnie and she was taught how to behave until she was told what the plan of action was. They were to go to her chambers and get her fitted into a dress suitable for a girl of her 'calibre'. "Do the king and queen not want to see me when we arrive?" Asked the blonde. "They have not known their daughter for sixteen years."

"I am sure they do," replied Bonnie. "It would just not be proper to greet you immediately on your arrival." Court life certainly seemed a little too 'proper' for Caroline's liking. After the horrors of the morning she'd like to be embraced by someone, anyone really. She couldn't see this happening now.

From inside the carriage Caroline had been talking to Bonnie, she hadn't been looking outside but when she finally did she glanced the palace, rising up before her. It was surreal to be so close to a building she'd only seen as a powerful block high up on the hills with a tower rising up above it. As the carriage came to a stop Bonnie began to rise and so Caroline followed suite. 'The man' helped Bonnie down before holding a hand out for Caroline to take. She took it, as Bonnie had told her to, and smiled graciously in thanks. Her adviser smirked, looking pleased.

The brunette guided the blonde through the pathway lined by hedges to the front doors, guarded by two men, which opened once they saw the two of them. Caroline couldn't hold back her gasp as she entered into the grand hall, a huge room lined with paintings and in the middle of it a spiralling staircase. For a moment she was overwhelmed by the largeness of the room; at least double the size of her entire house! Then she wandered over to the painting nearest the door. It read 'King Gerald and Queen Margaret' and their birth and death dates underneath. She stared at the image before moving along, all the way around the room until she got to 'King William and Queen Elizabeth'. The young man in the photo had her sparkling eyes and the woman her long blonde hair, their facial structures reminded her of her own and it pained her to say it. Remembering the faces of her parents and her siblings she thought of how different to them all she looked. The final portrait was of a baby, and below it read 'Princess Caroline, 1473-' she stared between the babe on the wall and the king and queen before it and would have for longer had Bonnie not gently taken her arm. "Come along your highness, I'll take you to your chambers."

Her chambers were just as spectacular as the rest of the palace she'd seen so far; three rooms, gorgeous furniture including sofas and a four poster bed. Caroline lay back on the bed before she could stop herself, loving the fact that this was raised off of the floor unlike how she'd always slept before though. It was a large bed though, she wished Meredith were here to share the room with her. Bonnie laughed at her lady's behaviour, then added, "I stay just next door m'lady, if you ever need me."

"Please just call me Caroline," the blonde knew she sounded exasperated. Bonnie looked like she was about to protest but Caroline interjected. "You told me in the carriage that you wanted to help me settle in and feel comfortable, and that will help me, if you call me the name I have answered to my whole life, even if everything else around me is changing, to have that, it's... grounding."

The brunette nodded. "...Caroline. It is time to get fitted for your dresses." They went through into another room of her chambers where a woman with light brown hair stood. Her face lit up when she saw the princess and she came towards her to envelope her in a hug, crying out her name. "This is Jenna," Announced Bonnie, seemingly amused. "She has always been a little unconventional." Jenna explained she had known her when she was a baby, which shocked Caroline since the woman only looked a few years older than herself, had she really been working here that long from such a young age? Jenna made her bathe first, with the help of Bonnie and herself. After that slightly uncomfortable experience her years old slightly too short grey dress was thrown in the fire and Jenna brought out a plethora of dresses, more than Caroline, her mother and her sister combined owned. Rich, vibrant colours and fabrics as well. The fitting process was strange and long, and she was glad when it was at last over, although Jenna seemed friendly, it was just all very weird. At this point Caroline thought she was at last done, but then the shoes were brought out.

* * *

Eventually Caroline was done with 'being made into a princess'. Jenna smiled at her, pleased with her work, and then a guard arrived, announcing that the king and queen were ready for her. Caroline's stomach was flipping as her adviser led her down the stairs through a few rooms that just seemed a blur. Then there was a set of double doors that were pulled open. Trumpets sounded and a shout of "her royal highness, Princess Caroline" and then Bonnie gently edged her forwards whispering reminders to stand straight, keep her head up and smile. The room was full of people dressed in silver and blue while she stuck out like a sore thumb in her golden dress. Ahead of her, important looking people parted until she saw two thrones with older versions of the people she'd seen in those portraits before seated in them. Her parents. She was amazed that she was still moving forwards... and slightly worried that she'd barrel straight into them. Thankfully she stopped just short of them, her eyes fell on them both, comparing them to herself, trying to read their painted on regal smiles. She reminded herself to curtsy. A man by the side of the thrones tapped some stick he was holding on the floor and spoke about how the kingdom was welcoming back their lost princess. He was the one who'd announced her she realised. At the end of his speech, during which she noticed their eyes had been focused entirely on her, the King and Queen stood.

"Sixteen years ago," Announced the King. "A war began between the kingdoms of our land. We feared for our daughter and decided that in this time of violence the best place for her would not be in a castle but in a place where she was not expected, in the village." Everyone watched on in awe and Caroline vaguely heard scribbling, someone was writing this down like a statement, to send out to the people and perhaps the other kingdoms. "But we could not just place her with anyone, it had to be people we trusted." So the parents she knew all her life knew her real parents, were trusted by them? She felt like everyone had been lying to her her whole life, what was even reality? "I chose my good friend Tobias and his wife to take care of her and I thank them for all they have done." In her worked up state Caroline missed the brief flash of something across her birth mother's face when the King called Tobias a good friend, and it was gone just as quickly as it came. "But now our princess has returned. Long live Caroline, princess of the light!"

"Long live Caroline!" Cried out a chorus of voices, and then the queen crossed over to an attendant beside her, who was holding a silver tiara with blue gems on a cushion. Elizabeth took the tiara in her hands and moved towards Caroline. Bending down without realising she was doing so, Caroline knelt as the tiara was placed on her head and then her mother took her hands and pulled her up and they were stood hand in hand. Someone pushed open some doors she hadn't seen before and then there was the trumpets and the announcement again, and she was out the door, her hand raised in a royal wave as they all cried out her name, rejoicing for the lost princess. She looked down upon her subjects, how weird it was to say that when hours ago they had been her friends, her family, her taunters. She saw many familiar faces, everyone knew everyone in the village, but not the one she was looking for, not until she looked away from the large crowd, down to where a small group stood. A brunette woman, a dark haired man, and a fair headed one. The blond turned to her as she saw him, as if he felt her eyes on him. She felt herself still waving but it was unconsciously, as much of this experience had been. Matthew Donovan; her best friend and her first crush, not that she'd ever told him that. Mayhap she would have if given the time, but that part of her life had been suddenly and abruptly snatched from her. She was not foolish enough to think she could keep Matt in her new life. She gave him a small sad smile and spared a quick glance at Tyler and Meredith before she turned and went back inside, her skirts flowing around her, then the doors to her old life slammed closed.

 _ **Next Time:**_

 _ **"You're sending me away, so soon?" Caroline blanched. "Why, don't you want to know me?"**_

 _ **The King sighed. "Of course we do my daughter. But the Kingdom of Mikaelson has made a deal with all of us and we must follow through on our deal." She was being traded away like a piece of cattle. "Besides, it is not like you are to be murdered, you shall be married."**_

 _ **What?!**_


	2. Adjustment

_**Chapter 2:**_

 _ **AN: Thank you so much to everyone who favourited and followed, and special thanks to**_ Klarolinelover **_for the review. :)_**

 _ **Previously: At the beginning of the war between all the kingdoms, King William and Queen Elizabeth placed their one year old daughter with a man the king had an affair with and even loved (Tobias Fell). Caroline finally found out about her heritage at seventeen and was taken from her home back to the castle, where she was introduced to the kingdom.**_

 _ **May 1492**_

Caroline sat uncomfortably on a sofa in the reception room she'd been led into. Her biological parents sat opposite her on another sofa and Bonnie was stood nearby for support, so she'd said.

"Thank you Bonnie. That will be all." The King said pointedly. Caroline saw Bonnie flick her hands down out of the corner of her eye and then leave. Odd. She immediately felt even less comfortable, and knew she was no longer sitting as neatly as she had been.

There was a long silence as the three Forbes' tried to decide how to start. Eventually Caroline couldn't stand it any longer, she didn't particularly care that she was talking to the King and Queen of the land. "Why did you send me away?" The King started to launch into almost the same speech he'd given with all the others in the room and she shook her head. "Why would I be safer in the village, unprotected, than in a castle with what seems like hundreds of guards?"

"A castle is not as safe a place as you seem to think Caroline," The Queen said ominously, pausing, seemingly for effect before continuing. "There are spies, traitors, liars. I insisted that it would be safer for you to be down in the village, it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do." She reached across and gently touched Caroline's hand. The touch felt both foreign and familiar. It wasn't until her mother pulled away that Caroline realised she'd slipped something into her hand. Guessing by the way that Elizabeth did not do this in front of her husband, she supposed it was supposed to be a secret, so she pulled it back and slipped it into her shoes discretely as William continued talking. "...carriage will take you to the Mikaelson Kingdom."

Her head rose from looking down at her feet to look straight into his eyes. "You're sending me away so soon?" Caroline blanched. "Why? Don't you want to know me?"

The King sighed. "Of course we do my daughter. But the kingdom of Mikaelson made a deal with us and all of the other kingdoms once we told them of your existence a few weeks ago. We must follow through on our deal." She was being traded away like cattle. "Besides, it is not like you are to be murdered, you will be married, to an upstanding prince."

What? "You're marrying me to someone I have never met?"

"It is the life of a princess," Her mother sighed. "We will miss you dearly but you must be married." At Caroline's still flabbergasted face she decided to add, "Should your father die, you will need a husband to be king of this kingdom while you can be queen."

Caroline stared at her. "Why must I have a King to be Queen?" Her mother looked like she was thinking this over but the King burst out laughing. She fixed her glare on him. "I am not joking! I don't wish to marry anyone right now, especially not someone I don't know."

The King's laughter slowly faded and his face began to change as she spoke. By the time she was done he looked angry, but remained conserved. "You are the sole heir to this throne Caroline, this is your responsibility to your people, to your family-"

"You are not my family! My family is down in the village, even if they think they are suddenly not a part of me and I them, it is not that easy. If you wanted to be my family you would not send me away like this! You would want to get to know me."

"You will see us again Caroline," Said the Queen. "It hurts more than you will ever know to have to do this to you, but I know you will understand some day."

She looked between them and knew she had no chance at changing their minds. "So when do I leave?" She sighed.

"Tomorrow morn," the King announced, seeming to relax a little when she agreed. Tomorrow. She really never would see her family or her friends again.

* * *

Later, after Bonnie had retired to bed, when Caroline was finally sure she was absolutely alone, she pulled out the letter she'd been keeping in her shoe all evening and read the flowing script by the fading light of the candle on her bedside lamp.

 _My dearest Caroline,_

 _As I write this one of our footman has been sent out to retrieve you from the house we placed you in as a babe, thinking it the best decision at the time. I have regretted that decision every day, for even though it meant you are safe today, it meant you grew up calling another woman 'Mother'._

 _By the time I have discretely given this to you I assume your father and I will have informed you of your fate, if not, in short, you have been betrothed to a prince from the Mikaelson Kingdom. They have chosen four princesses and a prince to marry their children. I am also not sure how well you have been educated on other kingdoms but I assume you know the five; the Kingdom of Light, the Kingdom of Mirrors, the Kingdom of Soldiers, the Kingdom of Endeavour and the Kingdom of The Night. The Mikaelsons are the last and though I know not which of them you are to be married to I can explain to you who they are._

 _King Mikael and Queen Esther have five children, the eldest being Prince Finn. I have met him a few times and always found him to be quite serious and oftentimes disapproving of his siblings. He rarely says much and even when I saw him as a young child, he simply stood with his parents while his siblings dance._

 _Prince Elijah is the next. My hope is that you will be married to him for he is the most honourable man you could meet, and very gentlemanly._

 _Prince Niklaus is the middle child. I beg of you, stay away from him, and his brother Kol. Despite their charming and handsome exteriors, they are the most dangerous I have always felt, and I fear you will not be safe with either one of them. I can only pray that it is not to one of them that you shall be married. If you are, or even as your brother-in-laws, I advise you to be very careful around them. They both have temperaments that can flip in mere seconds. But especially Niklaus._

 _Your future sister-in-law Rebekah has always been the closest to Niklaus and yet she is very emotional and romantic. As long as you do not anger her, or any of them, I am sure you will be fine._

 _Reading back over my words I wish to make clear that although I have described some of the family as good, you should not trust any of them. It is a dark and unfamiliar place. I send you all my love my daughter, and this last piece of advice._

 _Beware the creatures of the night._

 _-Your mother_

Beware the creatures of the night. No matter how long she stared at it, Caroline found she could not decipher the last line. Did it refer to monsters that came out in the dark. Were there wolves in the other kingdom? Was her mother warning her to stay inside? It wasn't until she read back the letter that she remembered what her mother called the Mikaelson kingdom- the Kingdom of the Night. Perhaps she was calling the royal family themselves 'creatures of the night'. It would agree with how Queen had told her to be so careful and how she'd seemed so angry, but why did she think they were such monsters, why specifically the youngest princes?

Hearing footsteps outside her door, Caroline quickly threw the letter in the fire, watching it burn as the words remained imprinted on her brain. _Beware the creatures of the night._

* * *

The next morning as Caroline lay in her bed she shut her eyes tight and tried to pretend she was still at home. She'd never been all that good at imagining though. It had only been a day but lying in this soft comfortable bed she could barely remember waking up at dawn on the floor with Meredith beside her. Walking down to the village well to get a pail of water for cooking their small breakfast felt like a faint memory. "Come along m'lady. You have a big day ahead," Said a maid she didn't know, not much point learning her name since she'd be gone in a few hours, she thought grumpily. The maid pulled out a silver and white dress and Caroline caught her looking at it longingly, feeling bad suddenly. She herself was feeling sad about being a princess and getting to wear beautiful dresses and marry a prince. The King had been right last night, most girls _would_ dream of this. She let the girl dress her, lacing her tight into a corset- gosh that was going to take some getting used to, she felt as though she could barely breathe. After that she was sat down in front of a mirror and stared at her reflection while the girl brushed her hair. She sprinkled it with little silk flowers and then the Crown Jewels were back out and a necklace with a red jewel was placed around her neck, a silver tiara on her head. Breakfast was a brief affair with just her and Bonnie and then she went to that room she'd been announced in yesterday, except today it was less packed and there was only seemingly the few trusted courtiers here. She walked up to the King and Queen and curtsied before them.

"Goodbye my daughter," Said the King as he laid a fur cloak over her shoulders and she took it gracefully. He kissed her once on each cheek and she couldn't help but smile softly at him. Then the Queen repeated the words, placing some fur gloves into her hand and kissing her in the same way. For a second she thought her mother might cry but she pulled away, regal and statuesque as always. This time there was no appearance on the balcony, she just turned and walked out of the palace back over to the royal carriage, Bonnie climbing in opposite her. The royal court waved her off and she found herself waving back, vaguely aware of Bonnie's eyes on her. Crowds awaited them, crying and shouting out goodbyes to the princess they'd had for a day. It was a long time before the crowds died down but eventually they did.

"How long to the Mikaelson Kingdom?" She asked her adviser, her head resting on her hand so she could stare out the window at the lands she'd never seen before. She'd never left her kingdom.

"About six hours by carriage," The brunette shrugged. Then she chided, "don't ruin your gorgeous hairdo before your husband can even see it." Caroline raised an eyebrow.

"I don't altogether care what he thinks. Not like he can choose not to marry me because of my hair. This seems entirely pre-decided." Despite her bitter words she found herself moving her hand from her head so that she was sat up straight but could still move around. "What is going on?" She exclaimed, perhaps to Bonnie, perhaps just to ask it aloud. "I've been doing things I don't want to do and I feel like I've got no control of my own body! Is this some kind of witchcraft?" She had been being dramatic but she saw Bonnie flinch at the word and her eyes went to her. "What is going on?" She repeated. The brunette lowered her eyes, looking shameful. "Bonnie," Caroline said desperately. "As my friend, tell me what's going on." She honestly wasn't just trying to make the other girl feel guilty; apart from Matt, and perhaps Meredith and Tyler, Bonnie was the only friend she'd had, and she felt so close to her after only a day.

Bonnie didn't reply to her question, just looked conflicted for a few moments and then suddenly reached into the basket beside her and pulled out a candle. "What are you-?" Caroline started but stopped, bemused, when her friend put the candle down on the seat beside her and proceeded to stare at it. She was insane. Certifiably insane. Then suddenly a flame flickered on and Bonnie's eyes flicked to hers, a cheeky smile on her face. Caroline's mouth hung open, gormless. How was she supposed to feel about this? Confused that such a thing could happen? A need to vault out of the carriage away from this witch, or to burn her at the stake? Intrigued to learn more? "How-I-what?" Bonnie shut her eyes and the candle went out. She replaced it into the basket and then turned to Caroline.

"I know you will have a lot of questions and I will do my best to answer then but first, let me tell you about myself." Witches existed, Bonnie explained, and had done since the start of time. It was a genetic thing, and for centuries the royal families had been aware of their existence and had had them as 'advisors'. Bonnie was the daughter of an adviser, like herself, and some stable hand or something. Her mother ran away from the castle and her daughter when Bonnie was only five years old, and her father was either gone or wouldn't own up as she never found out who he was. The King and Queen raised her with tutors, and it was then that Caroline considered her own upbringing. She'd been taught to read and write basically, which was unheard of where she came from, but of course it had been the King and Queen to request this.

"Were you the reason I was doing so well as a princess? Were you moving me around with witchcraft?" Bonnie nodded. "Thank you, it stopped me from some huge embarrassment, but please can I just get your lessons unless you think I'm about to truly embarrass myself?"

"Sure," Bonnie smiled. "Any other questions m'-Caroline?"

"Are there any other witches at the castle?"

"No," replied Bonnie, somewhat sadly. "I'm the last Bennett witch. My mother left, and my gramps and my cousin Lucy died of consumption a few years ago." Caroline put a hand on the other girl's comfortingly. Bonnie glanced down at it for a moment and then offered Caroline a small smile before tapping on the roof of the carriage. "How long now?" She yelled.

"Entering the Mikaelson Kingdom," Came the answer. Caroline drew back the curtain on her side excitably, eager to see how similar or different this kingdom was to her own. It was still light outside but the streets were empty and silent. It was entirely odd for her, being used to the Kingdom of Light where children splashed around in puddles and sang songs and there were parties and laughter even with all the hard times. It was especially odd since she assumed the kingdom knew of the arrivals, so why weren't they here to greet them and hail their new prince and princesses? A howl resounded through the trees and Caroline's eyes widened. She tried to peer out the window but Bonnie yanked the curtain closed and tapped on the roof again. "Speed up!"

* * *

Trumpets sounded as they pulled up and Bonnie whispered a few quick tips in her ear before stepping out first and then helping her down from the carriage. "Her royal highness, Princess Caroline Forbes." That totally wasn't going to get annoying. Caroline's skirts flew around her and she kept her head up, trying to project a confidence that she certainly didn't feel. The gardens here, from what she could see of them were even larger and grander than at her family's castle. Her family's castle- she was getting used to being royalty already. What would her family think of it? They were probably glad to have her out of their sight and still be in the favours of royalty. Stop Caroline, she thought to herself. Clear your mind of this and focus.

All dressed in black and white, the Mikaelson royal family sat at the end of a seemingly endless walk into the castle, to their dining room. This was nothing like the official 'welcome' she'd received at the last castle she'd stayed at. Here they were all sat, drinking and eating, looking comfortable. When her presence was announced the King and Queen rose to greet her and introduced themselves as Mikael and Esther. "Our eldest son Finn," King Mikael pointed announced, gesturing to a solemn looking man of about thirty, who inclined his head to her, she recalled from her mother's letter Finn was 'serious and disapproving of his siblings', the Queen's judgements seemed accurate so far. "Elijah," the kind, noble and gentlemanly one. He smiled at her and there did seem something about him she liked. "Rebekah," the soon to be sister-in-law, the one who loved the apparently worst brother. Rebekah didn't even acknowledge her presence, she was too busy flirting with some light brown haired man who looked about the same age as Caroline herself. Next to the man was a brunette girl and Caroline then realised that she seemed to have a mirror, sat between Finn and Elijah. Twins. Oh dear, like there wasn't enough new names to learn. "Kol," a young man who looked like Elijah except for the leer on his face grinned at her, picking up his glass and holding it up as if toasting to her before draining it. Beside him, a dark haired girl who looked even younger than her sat, and yet there was something about her that looked like she could handle this supposedly dangerous prince. "And Niklaus." Her eyes darted to the last member of the family. The one Queen Elizabeth had begged her to stay away from, at all costs. The man in question looked early to mid twenties, with dark blonde hair and glinting blue eyes. Those eyes were on her, boring into her so she could hardly look away.

"Please," The man said as he rose and walked towards. She hesitantly extended her hand at the gesture from Bonnie and he kissed it before locking his eyes with hers. "Call me Klaus."

 _ **Next Time: The royal couples are announced and Caroline gets yet another shock of a lifetime.**_


	3. Dance with the Devil

_**Chapter 3:**_

 _ **AN: Thank you so much for all the support so far :)**_

 _ **Previously: Caroline found out that she was a princess, that witches exist, and arrived at the Mikaelson Kingdom. She met the siblings, one of which will be her future husband.**_

 _ **So in case you're confused (like me) the table arrangement is:**_

 _ **At the top Mikael, to his left, Rebekah, Stefan, Elena, Caroline Bonnie, a space. At the other end is Esther, to her left; Davina, Kol, Klaus, Elijah, Katherine, Finn.**_

 _ **May 1492**_

The dinner with Caroline's new, new family was... interesting, to say the least. She found the Mikaelson royal family to be just like her mother had described them. The names of the two twins were Princesses Katerina and Elena from the Kingdom of Mirrors, odd. Caroline immediately developed a dislike to Katerina from the way she was throwing herself at Finn, clearly just because he was the oldest and she wanted to be married to him. Her sister seemed nice though, a lot more quiet and didn't throw in so many fake laughs at everything a man at the table said. Caroline sat next to Elena, with Bonnie on her other side and made some quiet conversation with the two of them for most of the dinner, trying to avoid the eyes of Klaus who sat exactly across from her. Surprisingly Kol didn't seem as intrigued with her as his brother, as her mother had implied he would be. He seemed rather occupied with talking to Princess Davina, although she noticed once when she turned to ask Bonnie something that they were holding eye contact, which her friend immediately dropped when she looked over. "A toast," Announced Queen Esther, holding up her glass and standing. "To the Mikaelson family, and all our new members." She smiled a tight lipped smile around at her children and soon-to-be children-in-laws and then drank. The others followed suite, though Caroline forgot for a moment until Bonnie nudged her. Katerina laughed aloud and Klaus chuckled then whispered something to his younger brother, making Caroline blush probably an embarrassing shade of fuchsia. She was already making a fool out of herself; why had she ever thought she could be a princess? She wasn't a princess. She was just a peasant girl playing dress up, surely they could all see through her disguise.

"May I be excused?" The blonde princess looked between the King and Queen, unsure who she was or should be asking. She saw Esther nod her head out of the corner of her eye and pushed back her chair, feeling like she was falling out of it as she curtsied and followed a guard who led her up to the room she'd been given for now. "Argh!" Caroline screamed into the blankets as she collapsed with her head on the bed and then just sat there for a few seconds before there was a tentative knock. Bonnie, probably. Trying to hide her tears by coughing then wiping her face, Caroline then said, "Come in Bon."

In came a brunette, but not the one she was expecting. By the soft, worried expression and the naturally straight hair, this was Princess Elena. Come to laugh at her? The princess walked over and started to lower herself to crouch beside Caroline, who felt an instant need to rise to this superior, gorgeous creature. Elena decided to sit on the bed and pulled Caroline up beside her.

"What must you all think of me?" Caroline found she was speaking without even being aware, but it wasn't like when Bonnie was using magic on her, this was _her_ this time, pouring out her feelings to a stranger because she had no-one else around to tell them to. "I behaved so- so-" she paused, struggling for a word.

"Nervous?" Elena suggested, smiling. "And rightly so. We've all heard your story Caroline, this must be a shocking change. It's fair enough that you're feeling a bit lost." Caroline stopped her staring at her dress as she fiddled with it and looked up at the doe-eyed Bulgarian. She was empathising with her. This princess who'd probably been raised with a silver spoon in her mouth. This girl who'd have slept in her own room every night of her life and had horses and prim and proper family that barely paid her any attention. It was... nice. Caroline returned the smile Elena was giving her, which seemed to convince the other girl to continue. "So you have two options; you can either go back downstairs and walk tall and continue eating-"

"I can't go back down after that," Caroline interrupted. "They were all laughing at me."

Elena looked confused. "About what?"

"About not toasting!" Caroline declared, realising how silly a problem this sounded as she said it out loud.

"Oh everyone's in a daydream sometimes," Elena reassured her. "I am all the time. Perhaps Katerina was laughing at you, she's a total bitch," Caroline did a double take at the vulgar word coming from a princess but she totally agreed. "But I heard Klaus talking to his brother about something entirely different just before he started laughing, and I don't think any of the rest of us even noticed. Or... option two." Elena grinned. "You can stay up here, and I can stay with you, if you want." Caroline nodded quickly and the other girl laughed.

The door was knocked on and then swung open, this time it was Bonnie. She told Caroline that she'd explained to the King and Queen that this was only her second day of being royalty and she was probably incredibly overwhelmed, apparently they'd been completely understanding. "Yeah, maybe a little bit of uh..." she glanced at Elena. "Y'know, would have been helpful."

"You can talk about magic," Said Bonnie. "Elena's a Petrova, the royals know all about it." Oh. The three girls sat on the blonde's bed and chatted for hours, Bonnie even showed them a trick where she made feathers levitate and fall down around them. As amazing a friend as Matt had been, she'd never had this kind of friendship before, not with him, not with Meredith, not with anyone.

* * *

The next morning brought nerves to Caroline's stomach. Today was the today she would find out who was going to be her husband, the man she would be devoted to forever. Thankfully she got to spend her morning with Bonnie and Elena; they had considered inviting Princess Davina to join them for the walk but knew if they did they would also have to invite Katerina and Rebekah so decided not to. The three girls were strolling in the gardens when from around the corner of the hedges came Klaus and Kol. The brothers were both smirking mischievously and Kol spoke first. "Ladies," His eyes went to Bonnie and he cocked his head. "Mistress Bennett." The brunette's eyes narrowed and the other two girls turned to look at her briefly. Both boys just burst out laughing.

"Enjoying the palace?" Asked Klaus.

"It is quite nice," Caroline replied. "Afraid I can't say the same for its inhabitants."

The dark haired prince gave her a mocking look. "Ouch. Did we do something to offend you princess?"

"Oh you know," she said, struggling for an answer but trying to play it off. They hadn't done all that much yet, but there was something off about them, and her mother's words form the letter stuck in her head. "Laughing at me, singling out Bonnie, that cold greeting yesterday." Do not anger them, she remembered Queen Elizabeth's words. Their personalities change quickly. Best to stop there. "We should be on our way," she grabbed Elena's arm and started to pull her along but Klaus put out a hand. She froze.

"Don't forget about the engagements announcement," the blond reminded her, but it came out sounding almost threatening. She just nodded briefly and then pulled her two friends away.

When they were out of hearing range of the boys Elena turned to Bonnie, her eyes dancing. "What's going on with you and Kol?"

Her adviser bit her lip. "I don't know what you mean."

"Oh come on," Caroline said, trying to get into the conversation though her mind was still reeling with the looks Klaus gave her last night, and the tone to his voice today.

Eventually submitting to their questioning, Bonnie let out an "okay, okay! We may have had a little moment at the Christmas ball." Caroline's mouth dropped open and Elena's did the same. "Which may have led to a little something more." The two girls gasped and then laughed. "It's never happening again- I must have been drinking without realising it, I would never usually do something like that."

"It's okay Bonnie," Elena put a hand on her friend's back. "We're just joking around with you." Bonnie's eyes moved away from them but her cheeks stayed red, perhaps even more so than before. Caroline followed her line of sight to see the two young princes stood by a horse each, their eyes on the girls. Instead of turning away as one should do in this situation they kept their eyes glued on them and Kol even wiggled his fingers in a mocking wave. They looked amused, but they couldn't have heard them talking, surely, they were too far away.

* * *

The afternoon came around a lot faster than Caroline would have liked and she soon found herself walking past the ballroom, which was being prepared for later that night, towards the throne room.

"I know this is a very important moment for you all," King Mikael smiled a tight lipped smile at his children and soon to be children-in-law. His wife stood beside him, along with Stefan and Rebekah, since he was the only prince here so it was obvious he was engaged to Rebekah. "So I'll get right on with it. Katerina."

The brunette stepped forward; slow, confident, regal- she was trying a bit too hard in Caroline's opinion. "Your husband will be Prince Finn." The Petrova princess smiled wide at her sister, a mocking 'haha I win' type smile, before prancing over to her betrothed. Elena was with Elijah, leaving Caroline's only options to be the worst of the Mikaelsons; the ones her mother had warned her away from. Davina was with Kol, leaving her to walk towards Klaus.

"Excellent," Announced Esther. "We will see you all tonight then."

* * *

When Caroline got back from helping Elena choose what to wear the two of them came across a box on her bed. "Open it then!" The brunette declared and Caroline moved towards it just as Bonnie came in complaining about how Katerina was treating her as a slave not a well-respected adviser. Elena's advice was just to ignore her, that was what she tried to do, after all. "Ooh what's in the box?" Asked Bonnie.

Caroline opened it up, finding inside a bracelet, a piece of paper, and a lot of magnificent blue fabric. The girls peered over her shoulder, gasping at the beautiful dress but Caroline picked up the note, reading the swirling script as she fiddled with the bracelet in her hand.

 _I didn't think you'd have many ball gowns fit for this occasion and this one is in the colours of your kingdom_

 _Fondly,_

 _Klaus_

Brief, but she supposed he'd be talking to her later tonight. She glanced between the dress and her huge closet, surely there'd be something in there. "What are you doing?" Elena asked. "This dress is gorgeous!"

"But it's from Klaus," Countered Bonnie, who'd read the note by now.

"Who cares, this dress is gorgeous!" The brunette repeated. The three of them analysed Caroline's closet but there was nothing more beautiful or suitable than the dress still sitting in the box, so she sighed and pulled it out.

* * *

The ball had been a total bore so far. First they'd been announced and then seated at the head table, where Klaus made no conversation with her and instead spoke across the table to his brothers. Each of the royal couples were taking time to walk around the ballroom and talk to the guests and when Rebekah and Stefan returned it was their turn. They both stood up without touching, no hand hold, no arm linking. Caroline just followed slightly behind Klaus.

"Niklaus Mikaelson!" A young man came over and embraced Klaus, drawing back and looking at the two of them. Judging by his appearance he was royalty as well. "So this is your fiancé?" Caroline smiled, doing a small curtsy and holding out her hand for him to kiss. His eyes met hers and she blushed. "She's beautiful."

Klaus snatched her hand away before the man could kiss it and she turned to him, surprised by the contact. "Indeed she is." Hm, the first touch, the first compliment, albeit him just agreeing with his friend- sounded like someone was jealous. Caroline smiled a little.

"Are you not going to introduce me?" The man asked, a glint in his eyes.

Klaus gave him a look and then said, "Caroline, this is Davina's father and my old friend, King Marcel." This was Davina'a father? But he only looked ten years older than her, in fact he looked around the same age as Klaus, maybe a little older, but not by much.

"Well I wish you all the best in marital bliss old friend," King Marcel told her fiancé.

Klaus grinned devilishly. "And I you in finding your queen." He smirked. "So sorry it couldn't work out with you and Rebekah." The King's eyes flashed with anger and was it just her or did spider like veins begin to appear. She blinked and they were gone, probably just her imagination.

"Marcel!" Called out a voice. It was Princess Davina, calling her father by his first name- it was unheard of where she came from. "Come on, let's go." The petite girl led her father over to where Kol sat, drinking.

"Excuse me," Mikael announced, clinking his wine glass. Everyone fell silent. "This is a monumental occasion for all of the kingdoms, we are forgetting our past troubles and moving on, forming one family. To celebrate we are holding this ball and I would like to begin with one of mine and my wife's favourite dances; a centuries old waltz."

The Queen smiled a tight lipped smile. "So find a partner and take your place on the floor."

She looked to Klaus, momentarily worried he would embarrass her and go dance with another lady but he took her hand and led her to their spot in the line up; Elena and Elijah were just in front of them. As the music started their arms were crossed and they began to slowly walk forward, Caroline glad of the lessons the girls had given her this morning.

"You're quite the dancer," Klaus said courteously.

She inclined her head to him a little. "I have experience. I happen to be the reigning Queen of the May."

She'd intended it as a little joke but any laughter died on her throat as Klaus bowed while she curtsied and he breathed against her neck in a low and husky voice, "I know." She shook, but tried not to let his hand wrapped around hers and the other hand on her back affect her. It was hard. His touch was like a sinful fire burning her. "I imagine it was nice to leave all that behind; the simple village life, your fake family, that blond boy. What was his name? Max?"

"I-" She shook with anger and wanted to scream at him but counted to ten in her head. He was just trying to get a rise out of her. Probably looking for some entertainment in a cruel, twisted way. "I don't want to talk about that with _you_." Although mainly managing to reel in her anger she couldn't stop herself from hissing out the last word. Klaus seemed mainly amused, although was that a flash of... no maybe not.

"Alright then, onto more mild mannered subjects." He twirled her. "Like how ravishing you look in that dress." Despite the fact that just seconds earlier she'd been furious with him, the feeling of Klaus' breath hot on her shoulder made her want him to hold her tight against him.

She shrugged, trying her best to act cool. "I didn't know exactly what to wear to a ball, I assumed this would be suitable since you gave it to me and I'm sure you wouldn't want your fiancée to embarrass you."

He nodded, looking contemplative. "Hm, and what's your excuse for wearing the bracelet I gave you?" She reached to touch the bracelet unconsciously and he pulled her back, whispering into her ear as he held her. "I have business to attend to." And then he had spun her out of his arms and she was stumbling into someone else. How embarrassing. She looked up and met blue eyes and dark hair. Another prince, by the looks of it. He led her in the next dance, talking about himself for most of it and she was quite glad when it was over and she could walk back up to the main table.

* * *

Elena sat in her room alone as the ball progressed. She'd told Elijah she'd been feeling ill and he'd promised to cover for her. She started to take off her shoes, uncomfortable from all the dancing, and her handmaiden was still downstairs, when there was a knock on the door. "Come in," she called, though she just wanted to sleep off this migraine. In came a familiar prince with dark hair and glittering blue eyes. Damon. "What are you doing here?" She asked. He shut the door behind him and slowly approached. She matched him step for step until she met the wall and then she returned to questioning again, stuck with nowhere else to run. "Damon?" He was in front of her now. "Damon, don't-" his lips smashed into hers and she struggled until she could finally pull away. When he started to pull down her dress she fought even harder until he was the right distance for her to slap him across the face.

"Elena?" For a second at least he was back to normal. "Run!" She stared at him for a second too long before starting to run. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back into him. What was going on? For a second Damon had seemed normal and then he was back to... this. It was like he was under a trance or... compulsion!

"Damon," she tried to get his attention but he was busy with the back of her dress. "Damon! Damon get off of me!" She screamed at last. As she screamed he was pulled away and she turned to see her saviour holding her friend against the wall. She pulled her dress back up and screamed at Elijah desperately to stop. "He's been compelled! It's not his fault." Her fiancé stared at her for a moment and then stared into Damon's eyes, his pupils dilating.

"Did someone compel you to do this?" Her friend nodded. "Who?" Bit out Elijah. The dark haired man's eyes darted back and forth and Elijah repeated the question. "Who was it?"

"Katerina."

* * *

"I hate her," Elena said as the two princesses sat on a bench in the gardens. The brunette stood up and clenched her fist. She spun around to face Caroline. "I didn't think I was capable of hate but I... HATE her."

"Siblings can be awful, can't they?" Caroline sighed, thinking of Logan.

When she'd returned from the ball last night she'd heard crying and had gone into her new friend's room, where Elijah was holding her, and Bonnie was sat beside her holding her hand. After a nod from his fiancée Elijah had told them what had happened; that Stefan's older brother had tried to hurt Elena, under the influence of someone else. Caroline wasn't sure how much of someone else's influence he could be under for this not to be his fault whatsoever but Elijah issued him a complete pardon.

Elena seemed to hesitate. "They can be, Katerina certainly is, but I have a brother too, you know, Jeremy. I miss him dearly." She sat back down on the bench, sighing.

"I feel the same way about my sister Meredith," She sighed then said somewhat bitterly. "At least you will get to see your sibling again, mine is lost forever." She expected anger from the other girl but instead the beautiful princess put her hand on Caroline's and spoke softly, "I am sorry about that." They glanced between each other for a few seconds and then, "what was your life like there? As a peasant? Do you miss it?" It was a complicated question with a complicated answer. She didn't miss that life, the one where she starved and slept on the floor, but she missed the people, she missed the freedom. She tried her best to explain it to Elena and surprisingly the the girl seemed to understand her, nodding along. "A longing for freedom. I believe that is one of the only things Katerina and I have in common, besides our appearance," Elena chuckled. "Though she desires hers through command of others and I just wish to get away, to be free of the burdens royalty carries."

"Like what?" Asked Caroline, though she knew a few.

"Like-" The bushes parted and in came Bonnie. Elena relaxed when she saw who was there, and continued. "The Kingdoms of Petrova, Salvatore and Forbes have always been closest while the Kingdom of Gerard often stands with the Mikaelsons. As a result I have spent many a ball on the arm of Prince Stefan, or his older brother Damon, though he often seems entirely more interested in Katerina than I. Stefan though, always pays me attention and I find it incredibly gentlemanly of him... When we were six we used to play make believe that we were married. On my sixteenth birthday he snuck outside with me and kissed me underneath an old oak tree."

"You love him!" Declared Bonnie, catching on quickly.

Princess Elena simply blushed and said, "it is one of these burdens I speak of that nothing can ever come of it."

"And why not, pray tell," Caroline leant forwards. "He is a prince and you a princess, this would still be a beneficial marriage for the both of you, would it not? Could you not tell your parents of your feelings?"

"No," Elena sighed. "For the Mikaelsons want these unions and whilst the peasants heed the royals, the royals heed the Mikaelsons."

Intrigued, Caroline put a hand on her chin, resting it there. "What are you talking about?"

Elena's eyes seemed to turn darker. The sweet love struck girl of a moment ago replaced by someone else, someone full of fear. "Do you mean to tell me that you do not know?" The brunette's eyes went to Bonnie. "That no-one has told you?" Caroline shook her head.

Bonnie's eyes met hers as Elena stared at the other girl, daring her to tell. "The Mikaelsons are vampires."

 _ **Next Time: Caroline deals with the news that her new family are bloodsuckers while the Original Siblings plot a revolution.**_


	4. Lost

_**Chapter 4:**_

 _ **AN; Thank you so much for all the support so far**_

 _ **Previously: Caroline and Klaus were betrothed and a ball was held in honour of the engagements. Elena snuck away and was attacked by Damon, who was stopped by Elijah. Damon revealed that he had been compelled by Katerina, revealing someone had turned her. Bonnie revealed she and Kol hooked up previously. Caroline found out the siblings are vampires.**_

 _ **June 1492**_

Caroline pushed back her hair and stared into her looking glass. Her eyes were rimmed with red; she looked exhausted. She'd been faking sick for the past few days and Bonnie had covered for her but she knew she couldn't hide in here much longer. Looking back to the looking glass she noticed a figure that hadn't been there moments ago. Klaus.

"What's wrong love?" She didn't even acknowledge him, choosing to stare down at the floor. "You've been ignoring me since the ball, even more so than before it." After ten good seconds of silence the prince grabbed her arm and spun her around, roaring, "ANSWER ME!" When she didn't he grabbed her face and made her stare into his eyes, his pupils dilating, "I said, answer the damn question."

"You're a vampire," she bit out, feeling compelled to answer. "You're all disgusting bloodsuckers."

Klaus dropped her face and she staggered back from the force of it. He seemed to be taking a few moments to take it in and just as he started to talk again Elijah flashed into the room and said their mother needed everyone downstairs before flashing away again, at an inhuman speed. "We'll have to continue this conversation later," the vampire behind her said and then he grabbed her and zipped downstairs. She pulled away as soon as she could, trying to slap him but he caught her hand. "Did you have to do that?"

"No but it was fun." Klaus took off towards the throne room and she followed behind reluctantly, unable to think of a comeback right then. As she entered the room she saw how empty it was- just the family inside. She heard sobbing and saw Esther patting Katerina on the back uncomfortably while Mikael glared in no particular direction. Elena stood with her arms crossed, not looking compassionate whatsoever- a very un-Elena like look. "She knew him for less than ten minutes." The brunette rolled her eyes as Caroline approached.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Prince Finn. He's gone."

* * *

Mikael and Esther were livid at the news that their eldest son and heir had run off with his peasant lover Sage. Klaus himself found the whole thing rather amusing, and useful. With one of his elder brothers out of the way that was one down, one to go. Sure, everyone always said Elijah would be a magnificent king what with his fairness and his way with words but he didn't want the power. Klaus was sure he could easily convince his brother he'd be better suited as his right hand man. So that was his power sorted out. He had a lead on the moonstone and that was the last thing he needed to break the curse, and a plan for how to get rid of his parents. Everything was falling into place, now all he had to worry about was his soon to be wife.

Caroline hadn't spoken to him in days and he'd finally compelled her to tell him that it was because she knew about vampires. He'd seriously contemplated compelling her to forget it all but the royal families all knew about supernatural creatures. Maybe she needed to talk this through with her family... no she didn't trust them, she couldn't have spoken to them for more than an hour at most before being shipped off to the Kingdom of the Night. What about her friends? Maybe that was a better idea, he'd have to convince them to be nice about him to her though, which was sure to be a hard task, definitely for Bonnie, as the witch hated him. If anyone could accomplish it though, it was Klaus Mikaelson. Time to turn on the charm.

* * *

Bonnie had been kind enough not to fry Klaus' brains as he explained what he wanted and when she asked why she should he'd said it was because Caroline was her friend and surely she wanted her to be happy and comfortable. Elena had been a lot easier to convince than herself and had run off to go talk to Elijah as soon as she'd agreed to help, now she was nowhere to be found. Oh well, Bonnie was sure she'd turn up soon. In the meantime she was headed to Caroline's room to start on making her more comfortable with vampires, a species which she herself naturally detested. As she was about to turn a corner a hand darted out and dragged Bonnie back into an alcove, holding her against themselves. She struggled against the body and was starting to focus her magic on her attacker when he spun her around and she came face to face with Kol. Shocked, she stopped her magical attack on him and instead tried to ask him something but the words came out unintelligible against his hand. The young prince chuckled lowly and removed his hand.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Kol put a hand to his heart, faking hurt. "Ouch, darling, I thought we had something."

Bonnie stamped on his foot, which just made him laugh. "What do you want?"

"Who says I have to want something to talk to my favourite witch."

The brunette raised her eyebrows. "I'm sure Davina would be thrilled with that."

"Someone's jealous," he teased her, reaching out to stroke a hand along her arm.

She jerked away from the touch and started to pull away when he pulled her back again. "What?" She practically shouted, exasperated with the Original.

He sighed and she looked closer, confused by the sudden shift. "You were right. I do want something." She waited for him to continue. "You."

Eurgh. "Leave me alone!" Bonnie declared, pulling away and hurrying down to Caroline's room before he could catch her.

* * *

"Caroline!" She chose to ignore that pestering voice behind her as she stormed out of the palace into the gardens. He'd found her. She'd been avoiding him the whole day. Bonnie and Elena had spoken to her about vampires, trying to get her more comfortable with the idea of them. While it was still incredibly confusing she at least now understood how they existed. Caroline stopped when she got to a beautiful pond, taking to staring at it as Klaus approached. "We had a little spat- I'm over it already!"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well I'm not."

"Oh come on!" Klaus sat down on a bench by the pond, giving her his best puppy dog eyes. "Take a chance, Caroline. Get to know me! I dare you." She couldn't stop her eyes from darting over and eventually she succumbed.

"Fine." Arranging her skirts as she sat down, she didn't notice the slightly surprised long on her fiancé's face and when she looked over the expression was gone. "So what did you want to talk about?"

His eyes seemed glued on her and no matter how much she tried to avoid them they kept colliding. "You. Your hopes, your dreams, everything you want in life."

Everything she wanted in life. What did she want out of life? This life was so different to the one she knew, she was still settling into it- she hadn't had time to think of new dreams and hopes. Seeing the way he was staring at her she narrowed her eyes. "Just to be clear, I'm too smart to be seduced by you."

He smirked. "Well that's why I like you."

* * *

"Damon told me what happened that night at the ball," Stefan said as he strolled arm in arm with Elena. "I'm sorry- for both of you- but especially you, that must have been horrible."

"Can we not talk about that?" Elena whispered softly and her ex-lover readily nodded.

"Stop it," Elijah told his younger sister, watching with vague annoyance as she eavesdropped on their betrotheds' conversation.

His sister spun around and faced him, hands on hips. "Well how on Earth am I supposed to know that bitch isn't trying to lure Stefan away from me? You know as well as I do the history of the Petrovas and the Salvatores; always repeating throughout the centuries again and again. You would be wise to keep an eye on them yourself."

Elijah shut his eyes for a moment. "I have more faith in my fiancée than you seem to have in yours." He stood up and offered his arm to Rebekah, who took it, and they walked slowly over to the stables to meet the others. "I believe it is the other doppelgänger you should be more worried about," he said in a low voice. "She was crying about our brother earlier on my shoulder and then tried to seek my arms for comfort."

"Or was it your lips 'Lijah?" Rebekah raised an eyebrow.

Her brother rolled his eyes. "Was it you that turned her?"

The blonde stared at him. "Now why in God's name would I willingly choose to make Katerina Petrova walk this Earth with me for all of eternity?" He shrugged and she gave him a look. "Are you sure it was not yourself? You have always been one to fall for the Petrova charm... I suppose it would not be that difficult for her to convince you..."

"Let it suffice to say that I only have eyes for one Petrova these days." Said Elijah simply and saw the small smile his sister gave him before he walked over to Elena.

"So what does this parade entail?" Elena asked as Elijah approached.

Davina, stood beside Kol, explained how it was her favourite festival, since Marcel had adopted it for his own kingdom so she knew it well, where lights went up into the sky and people wore vibrant colours and danced all night! Elijah had always enjoyed it as well though he rarely took part in the dancing since his parents usually just did the parade and then dragged them back to the castle, but today they were letting them stay down in the village. It was a little odd now he thought about it, he'd have to keep one eye on the King and Queen, but at the same time he needed to make sure Elena enjoyed this.

* * *

The parade involved riding side saddle for the women, which was a skill Caroline had not quite mastered yet, so Bonnie helped her with that, magically of course. She had to ride side by side with Klaus, which was a little easier since their conversation in the gardens so at least she could look at him now without feeling utterly disgusted. The streets were lined with people cheering and playing music and shouting "long live the King! Long live the Queen!" It gave her memories of when she was introduced to the public, but this was a lot more of a party atmosphere! When they reached the end of the parade route they came to a stage. King Mikael went up first and made a speech about the importance of this festival and then declared, "But enough of that. I know what you all want." He gestured to a woman by the side of the stage and she focussed her eyes on the unlit fireworks. Silence throughout the streets and then- boom! The lights blasted up into the sky and Caroline couldn't stop the gasps of wonder as she stared up at the whirling pinks and blasts of green and blue in the sky, fading slowly only to be replaced by more patterns and colours. The crowds cheered and a band started to play festive music.

"Come on!" She heard Davina call to Kol as the young girl pulled her partner down to the floor to dance with her. Rebekah followed with Stefan, who was complaining about not being able to dance but the youngest Mikaelson wouldn't take that! Elijah looked like he was about to ask Elena to dance when Katerina approached, curtseying in front of the now heir to the throne. "Dance with me m'lord." It wasn't exactly a request and Caroline didn't know much about etiquette in these types of situations but she supposed the prince couldn't exactly refuse. "One dance," he promised Elena, who nodded curtly and glared at her sister.

Klaus watched the whole exchange with amusement and then turned to ask Caroline to dance. "Just a minute," she replied, grabbing her best friends and pulling them down. She didn't catch the look of amazement on the soon to be hybrid's face as she linked arms with her friends, dancing and laughing, the most full of joy that he'd seen her. It was infectious and he found himself smiling- that was until he saw his mother and father sneaking away from the festivities, whispering as they did so. What the hell were they up to?

Caroline was having a fantastic time dancing and giggling and drinking. She spun around and around until she collided into a body and looked up, laughing as she clutched onto the shirt in front of her. "Hello luv."

She groaned as she saw who it was. "Oh... you."

Klaus smirked. "Indeed."

She raised a finger and pointed it at him in a chastising way. "Y'know, my sister would hate you." Her voice didn't sound like usual and as she stopped talking she slipped on nothing.

"Woah," Klaus caught her, pulling her back up to a standing position. "How about we go sit down?" He suggested. He wasn't usually one to act like this for anyone but he'd make an exception for his drunk fiancée, he didn't have much else to do anyway- his spy was watching Mikael and Esther for him. After managing to take her over to the stage and sitting her down on it, Klaus started looking around for her friends to come help her when she spoke in a soft drunken voice.

"Do you ever feel like there's not a person in the world that loves you?"

He knew she wouldn't remember this conversation so he sighed. "All the time."

She looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. "But you're-" she raised her hands in a weird exaggerated gesture he didn't get. He almost laughed.

"My father has tried to break me continuously over the centuries and the closest he ever came was chopping off the head of my favourite horse."

Her head snapped over. "I love horsies." Klaus smiled, a genuine smile, the one he only did when he knew no-one was watching, or in this case when the person watching was drunk and would have an awful hangover the next day. She started to get up again and stumbled.

"Okay," said Klaus, lifting her up in his arms. "Let's get you back home."

Back inside the palace Klaus slowly lowered the blonde beauty onto her bed and after staring at her for a few seconds turned to walk away but she reached out and grabbed his hand. He turned back around and met wide green eyes. "Please," Said Caroline. "Don't leave me."

He shook his head, more at his own thoughts than her words. He remembered what he had told Elijah just yesterday when reminding him to focus on the plan, "love is a vampire's greatest weakness and we are not weak. We do not feel. We do not love."

"Please." He stared down at her eyes and then slowly lowered himself down to lie beside her.

 _ **Next Time: The royal families arrive for the joint wedding and Bonnie meets Kol's cousin Nora.**_


	5. Secret

**_Chapter 5:_**

 ** _Previously: After finding out about the existence of monster vampires Caroline a saw a side to Klaus that little other people have ever seen; his humanity._**

 ** _June 1492_**

Caroline woke up with a pounding headache and rolled over onto her side, groaning, as a maid pulled open the curtain. "Close it! The light burns!" She complained and then quickly added. "Please." The maid didn't seem to care about her lack of manners, hurrying out of the room only to be replaced by Bonnie. It was all these people in her chambers that reminded her that she hadn't been alone when she'd fallen asleep last night. Klaus had stayed with her, helped her when she couldn't stand to be alone. Maybe he wasn't the uncaring monster she'd thought he was. Maybe he still had some humanity left.

"Here," said Bonnie passing her a herbal remedy. "It's an anti-hangover potion. It's why I'm not on the floor right now." Caroline took it from her trustingly and as it worked it's magic she felt her headache lifting and in a few seconds she felt fine again. "I know." Said Bonnie, seeing the look on her face. "It's fantastic. I tried to offer one to Elena," She was saying as she bustled around the room. "But she-" her friend paused, grabbing a piece of paper and holding it up. "What is this?" Caroline squinted and then walked over, slowly taking it out of her advisor's hand.

On the page was a beautiful drawing of herself with her hair in the same fishtail braid it was still in now, that she had worn for the festival, a few hairs hanging loose and smile on her face with her eyes looking so real it was as though she was looking into a mirror. Beside her was a drawing of a horse and as she stared at it she remembered something in a flash, part of the night she'd forgotten.

 _Her parents had never really cared about her; biological nor adoptive. Her siblings hadn't either. She was stuck in a loveless betrothal. "Do you ever feel like there's not a person in the world that cares about you?" She let out a little huff and didn't expect the answer she got._

 _"All the time."_

 _She tipped her head a little to look at Klaus. "But you're-" She gestured her hand wildly, unsure what she herself was trying to convey, only that it was grand and powerful._

 _"My father has tried to break me continuously over the centuries and the closest he ever came was chopping off the head of my favourite horse." Her head snapped over, excited._

 _"I love horsies!"_

She smiled at the memory, flashing out of it as Bonnie spoke. "This is a little creepy... but I guess it's also kind of cute." Caroline looked down at the corner of the paper, tracing her finger over the words resting there.

 _Thank you for your honesty_

 _Fondly, Klaus_

* * *

Bonnie sighed as she stood at the side of the throne room. Kol had managed to situate himself between her and Davina, with Stefan and Rebekah beside the young princess. The King and Queen were on their thrones and on the other side of the room were her friends and their fiancés, along with Katerina, who stood preening herself beside Elijah. Today was the day the important wedding guests were arriving; sure to be a long couple of hours full of tedious greetings and welcomes. Yawn.

"Do try not to fall asleep witchy." Hissed a voice in her ear at a minuscule volume and Bonnie bolted upright, turning, only to see Kol stood closer to Davina again, smirking in her direction. Her fists clenched at her sides and she tried to calm herself by thinking of all the things she'd do to that unkillable Original later. Thankfully at that moment in walked the first guest; King Marcel. He hugged Davina first and then moved to Klaus, who she could see hadn't said anything to Caroline today, despite the sweet/creepy drawing. Her blonde friend was quite annoyed. The Salvatore royal family came next, giving a rather colder welcome than Marcel had. King Giuseppe nodded to Stefan very briefly and then moved to greet Mikael and Esther. Queen Lily followed behind him, head ducked, and Damon just patted his brother quickly on the back, offering a small apologetic smile to Elena and a glare to Katerina. The Petrovas seemed very loving too, hugging both their girls but seeming more sympathetic to Katerina due to her loss of a future husband, while Prince Jeremy talked mainly to Elena, not believing Katerina's puppy dog eyes for a second. Bonnie knew who was coming next, Caroline's parents. The blonde told her in confidence this morning that she wished her 'real family' were here to see her get married, but she bowed her head politely to the King and Queen, who both looked at her with considerably more affection than her them.

After all the royals were seated there was Lady Dahlia, the sister of Queen Esther. It was the first time Bonnie had seen the woman but she hated her immediately. Honestly, she wasn't too fond of Esther either, but something in the brown haired sister just seemed darker and more dangerous. Behind Dahlia came two young women, not much older than Bonnie. They curtsied to the King and Queen and Bonnie watched with her face turned over there in interest as Esther smiled at her sister's daughter. "Lady Nora." And then her disapproving eyes fell on the woman beside her. "Mary-Louise." Bonnie's eyes narrowed in confusion and she tried to ignore Kol's whisper about how if she kept staring her eyes would pop out. The blonde woman, Mary-Louise, smiled at the Queen, an almost mocking smile.

"Majesty." And then Lady Nora kissed Mary-Louise full on the lips.

Bonnie's eyes widened and she was vaguely aware that she'd let out a gasp. She was sure others had too, but Lady Nora's eyes seemed glued only to her as she kissed the other woman. She didn't break and Bonnie found it impossible to look away. "My cousin," Kol whispered his words into her ear from behind. "Always one for a good show." Nora broke away from the lips she'd been attached to and the two women moved away from the front of the room. They'd been the last to enter and now Mikael broke the silence that had followed and announced to the royal families that everyone should make their way to the banquet hall, Nora's eyes still on Bonnie.

* * *

Stood with her back turned from him, her gorgeous hair blowing in the wind from the open door leading out to a balcony, and her black and gold dress billowing out around her, Caroline looked the picture of beauty. It made her seem even more so that she was wearing the colours of his Kingdom. She was also stood in his favourite room, gazing at a painting up on the wall filled with blues and silvers, the colours of her own kingdom. He stared at her for a good few seconds, drinking it all in, and then started to turn back to his guests, but it was at that second that, for some reason, she turned her head, noticing him. Their eyes met and for a good few moments they just looked at each other, then Klaus approached her, moving to stand just behind her.

She turned her head back to the painting, evidently annoyed about his ignoring her. "I assume this is stolen."

He shrugged. "Now why would you think that luv?"

Her eyes suddenly turned fiery and she spun towards him. "Stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"Stop calling me love! Stop drawing me stupid pictures! Stop giving me dresses! Stop being jealous and then turning around and ignoring me for days! Stop being so damn confusing!"

She turned to storm away, without a curtesy, without a goodbye. He grabbed her, spinning her back towards himself, feeling the rage build up inside of him, and then he roared. "Don't turn your back on me!"

"I should have turned my back on you ages ago!" Caroline was breathing heavily now, staring him down.

She was fierce, and refusing to back down. She was also his. His fiancée. He wouldn't be treated with such disrespect, no matter how much he admired that fire in her. He grabbed her up in his arms and glared. "You would do well to remember your place, princess. I expect you out there to socialise with the others in two minutes." And with that he dropped her, letting her stumble back, and marched out of the room.

* * *

The men were in the adjoining room, talking about God knows what, as the women were settled down on sofas talking. Bonnie couldn't seem to keep herself from glancing over at Lady Nora and Mary-Louise, and every time she did so the brunette was staring right back at her. Unabashedly so. It was a relief when Caroline re-entered the room and she had a distraction.

"Where have you been?" She asked, getting up to walk over to her friend.

"I just needed some space," Replied the blonde.

Out of the corner of her eye Bonnie saw Princess Rebekah roll her eyes and then she was beside them. "Come on Caroline, it's your turn to get fitted for your dress."

"My dress?"

Rebekah nodded. "For your wedding..." she paused, seeing the little recognition from Caroline's eyes. "Next week? To my brother Nik? Blond, yeigh high-"

Bonnie held out a hand to get her to stop. "Are you feeling okay Care?"

Elena was with them now too, putting her hand to Caroline's forehead. "She's always making a scene," Katerina was whispering to her mother at a purposeful volume. "Storming out, faking sick for days-" Both Bonnie and Elena were ready to go slap the Petrova princess when Queen Elizabeth stood up and marched over.

"I would be careful where I stepped if I were you Katerina," Caroline's mother said. "You have very little now don't you? I suppose it helps to tear other people down but. Stay. Away. From my daughter."

"Ladies!" Queen Esther finally intervened. "Let's not fight on such a joyous occasion." She turned to her soon to be daughter in law. "Caroline darling, go get fitted, Bonnie, you can go with her."

The two girls made their way down the halls with little to no response from the blonde until they passed the room where the men were. Though Caroline kept walking she seemed to tense up a bit. "What is it?" Asked Bonnie. "Klaus? Did he hurt you?"

Caroline took a breath but kept walking, just shaking her head. When Bonnie was about to drop it the blonde whispered. "I don't understand him. He gives me such lovely things, he dances with me, he stays the night to keep me company- then he turns around and lives up to the expectations I had of him from my mother." Kol was the same, Bonnie thought to herself. Charming and persistent and malicious all at once.

Bonnie sat pondering over the Mikaelson princes while Caroline was getting her fitting and she was so deep in her thoughts she didn't notice the presence behind her until she was tapped on the shoulder. She jolted upwards at the touch and turned her head to see Lady Nora.

The brunette sat down beside her and smiled. "I'm Nora, I don't believe we've had the pleasure of actually meeting yet."

"I'm Bonnie." The witch said and then in a more hushed tone. "I'm sorry if this comes out rude, but doesn't society say people like you should be burned at the stake? How can you be so public with your affections?"

Lady Nora raised her eyebrows in amusement and gave a look which reminded her of Kol. "And doesn't society say people like you should be burned at the stake, _witch_?"

"Touché," Bonnie giggled.

At that moment Caroline came out with the wedding tailor, dressed in a rich lavender and blue strapless dress. It was decorated with the silvers of their kingdom and the sleeves flowed down almost to the floor.

"Beautiful," observed Lady Nora and Bonnie had to agree. They didn't need to see another. The tailor looked slightly annoyed, having an alternative dress to show them.

"That's the one." Bonnie agreed and shot Caroline a grin.

* * *

The womenfolk were done and heading to bed at last, Elijah could hear with his enhanced senses. He made his exit from the room and tried to make his way upstairs but on the stairs who would he meet but Katerina. Her eyes were dark and passionate and she wielded her feminine side like weapon, waiting on the stairs for Elijah to approach her himself as opposed to coming towards him.

"May I help you, Katerina?" He asked pointedly, and she raised her gaze to look at him through lowered lashes.

"I am afraid of what will become of me, my lord." She said. "With Prince Finn gone for so long it seems he will never return and I fear I will be sent back home, where no-one will want for me- the rejected princess."

"Katerina." Slowly she stepped forward and he whispered into her ear. "Do not mistake me for a gullible man. I know exactly what you are doing and it is a dangerous path you are treading down, I would head back and take a different one if I were you." And with that he continued his way up the stairs, not looking back to see the way she stared after him, a smirk making it's way onto her face.

Her mirror stood behind a wall at the top of the stairwell, trying to get back to her room when she realised he was returning, but not making it in time. "Elena," he said in an almost chastising voice and she stopped and then slowly turned around. She opened her mouth to speak but he shook his head. "Don't worry about it, my business is your business." And he meant it. He'd been in love with this face before and yet with Tatia it wasn't like this. With Katerina it was just physical attraction. With Elena it was something... different. Perhaps not more than his first love, not yet, but certainly different. Different was good. "Come along." He said and taking her hand led this doppelgänger to his bedroom.

Elena was sweet and kind and burned with the Petrova fire, hers shown in her loyalty to her friends and family. In the way that even after all Katerina had done to her she could still forgive her. In the way that she left dinner to go check on a new princess she didn't even know. In the way that she offered Stefan advice with Rebekah even though her heart was tearing at seeing him with someone else. "Your compassion is a gift Elena," he whispered, trailing kisses up her neck and cheek. "Keep it with you." And then he paused beside her lips. "Always and forever." Their lips met in a sweet harmony.

* * *

Herbs scattered on the floor, her hands moved in waving motions, making them rise and fall. Slowly, she raised her hands, making the wind blow through the windows of the room, a strong breeze pushing back her long brown hair. She shut her eyes and was about to snap her arms across each other when the door behind her opened. The herbs flew up to the ceiling and the wind roared intensely. She dropped her hands, turning to face him accusingly.

"Kol! You broke my concentration."

He shrugged. "Sorry love. How's it going?"

"I can't do this alone." She said. "I need another witch."

He bit his lip. "Now that could be a problem."

"But Bonnie-"

"Isn't too fond of me right now."

She locked her eyes on him. "If you want me to find the weapon I need help."

Silence and then he sighed. "Gosh, you don't give up do you Davina Claire?" A smile blessed her features as he called her her birth name. She loved Marcel, but it was nice to remember her true heritage. She was a witch, when it came down to it.

 _ **AN: Thanks for reading :) Who do you want Bonnie to end up with? Kol? Nora? Someone else? Single?**_


	6. Forgiveness

**_Chapter 6_**

 ** _AN: Thanks so much for all the support, particularly last chapter! There were a similar amount of votes for both Kol and Nora but I think I've made a decision (it'll be quite a while before Bonnie's endgame is revealed), don't worry though, there will be moments for both ships._**

 ** _Previously: the royal families ended their sixteen year war and as a sign for peace and unity arranged marriages between their children. The eldest Mikaelson prince ran away with his peasant lover, leaving a now immortal Katerina to wreck mayhem._**

 ** _Most of the couples got along well but Caroline was finding herself confused by Klaus and hesitant to trust him due to her mother's warnings._**

 ** _Klaus had his parents watched while Kol and Davina needed Bonnie to help find a weapon._**

 ** _June 1492_**

Caroline hadn't slept all night, which must have been a first for her. She'd been plagued by demons even so and the coming of the daylight did little to stop these monsters. Queen Elizabeth entered her bedroom just after sunrise telling her to get up for 'her big day'. She was in a foul mood and wasn't amused by this woman and the maids getting her up so early.

There was a lot of procedures to follow; washing, hair, makeup, dress, shoes, jewels. They'd only finished the first stage when the Queen decided to tell her stories about herself and her husband, how theirs had been an arranged marriage and they didn't quite find love but some sort of companionship. Elizabeth started to ask her about her own fiancé but Caroline just shook her head. She was not in the mood for mother-daughter bonding time.

"You know, there's pretending to be a mother and then there's reality. Let's not push our luck, okay?" The Queen looked back at her, hurt, but Caroline just sighed. This woman may have given birth to her, but she wasn't her mother. That was Honoria Fell. "Where's Bonnie?" She asked.

The Queen sighed and then said, "she's in her room, exhausted from a..." she looked at her daughter, unsure what she knew.

"Spell?" Caroline huffed. "Yeah, I know about that. I know about vampires too. Thanks for the warning, by the way, could have been a little more specific, or better yet- you could have **not** sent me off to a playground filled with vampires on the day after we met."

"That wasn't my choice, Caroline." Elizabeth seemed annoyed herself now. "I know you're angry at us for sending you away, twice-"

"No, you know what," Caroline said. "I'm thankful you sent me to the village because I made the truest friend anyone could have and I got a family that loved me and cared about me for sixteen years. I'm even thankful that you sent me here, because I've met two more friends, who I can't imagine a life without. No, **your majesty** ," she made sure to bite out the words. "What I'm **'angry'** about is the lack of contact between us, and then the fact that despite that, you still expect me to act like your daughter. If anything, we're strangers."

After that long rant Caroline had expected some sort of telling off but what she got was a regretful look from the Queen and a mumbled apology. It did make her feel slightly guilty and she sighed. "That doesn't mean I don't want to get to know you." The Queen's head shot up. "Let's just take it slow."

* * *

Elena sat on the edge of her bed, finally alone. Her mother and sister had been smothering her all day, one more cruelly than the other, along with the help of some maids. Her Petrova red and gold wedding dress was hanging on her, and her hair was styled in curls- Katerina's choice, not her own.

She turned her eyes to the door as it creaked open and when she saw who it was she stood up and grabbed her neatly made bed covers, yanking them up to hide herself as she shrieked. "Elijah what are you doing in here?" He chuckled and she lowered her covers down to her chin so he could see her glare. "You're not supposed to see me until the wedding. It's bad luck!"

"Well as a man born in the 1st century let me tell you, that was a rule made up by men who didn't want their fiancées from arranged marriages to see them and convince their families to cancel the wedding." She let out a little 'oh' sound, slowly lowering the sheet and then dropping it. "There's no danger of that for me." His voice turned low and sultry and she blushed a little. "How are you feeling?" He asked, voice back to normal as he sat down on her bed, gesturing for her to join him.

She did, giving him a look. "Want an honest answer?" He nodded.

"Excited and nervous and sad all at the same time."

"Sad?" He repeated and she shrugged, nervous about how he would react to what she wanted to say. "You can tell me, Elena, you don't have to worry about me judging you."

"I just-" she sighed. "You're amazing, and I'm so glad I am to marry you, but I would be lying to you if I said there wasn't a small part of me that has been holding out hope that somehow Stefan and I- that we would, um, reunite." She glanced up to gauge Elijah's reaction but found his face blank and unreadable. "Elijah?"

The prince took the hand she lay resting between them and squeezed it gently. "I would be lying if I said I'm not a little jealous, and believe me, Rebekah is immensely so, but I..." for once he seemed lost for the eloquent words. "Wouldn't mind if a part of you always loved him, so long as you would take me into your heart too." She nodded definitely and he cracked a smile, leaning in slowly to gently press his lips against hers, and then she opened her eyes and he was gone.

* * *

Davina picked up the skirts of her green wedding dress and sat herself down on her bed. She was exhausted from the spell last night, and finally alone- as custom dictated the bride should be for a little while after being dressed. Her eyes fell on the cupboard by her bed. She knew it was against her morals and Marcel would probably be mad but she'd gotten to know Kol over the past month; she was sure he wasn't just playing her. He loved her, and she loved him; she'd do anything for him. She crossed over to the cupboard and pulled open the drawer which was spelled to open to only her touch, and stared at the object inside of it. It was the first good look she'd gotten at it since she and Bonnie had summoned it; exhausted as they had been at the time. She could see now that it was a sort of thin triangular pyramid like shape with metal vines enveloping it around from the base. It seemed to glow white, almost incandescent.

She glanced to the tabletop as she saw her grimoire open and flip through several pages of its own accord. Eventually it landed on a page for cloaking spells. Davina looked up to the ceiling and rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the advice, but no thanks."

* * *

After having dressed herself and checked in with both Caroline and Elena, Bonnie found herself in her room flipping through her grimoire. It was tradition that the bride be alone for a while after being dressed so she couldn't go talk to either of them. It was rather lonely being here alone though, in a bridesmaid's dress rather than a bride's. She'd never been too bothered with love or even sex; last year's Christmas hookup with Kol had been the first and last of its kind, but for the first time in her life she almost wished it was her that was getting married. Whether arranged or not, at least she could say she had someone. Who would she want to marry though? None of the boys in either kingdom she'd lived in had ever caught her eye, excepting Kol. She remembered Nora's eyes on her as she kissed Mary-Louise and shook her head to rid herself of the memory. She was a vampire, and a woman, and very much taken. She'd caught Mary-Louise feeding last night- God, that girl was brutal- and she was sure she didn't want those fangs to sink into her neck.

No. Maybe it was best to just stay unattached, at least for now.

* * *

The two Petrova doppelgängers stood in Elena's room. Their mother had gone to the chapel and Katerina should have as well, but when Elena looked into the mirror she saw herself twice. "What are you doing here?"

"Can't a girl wish her sister good luck on her wedding day?" Katerina slowly walked forward, hands behind her back.

"Not if that girl is you." Elena smiled weakly and took the tiara Esther had brought in for her. It was silver and sparkled with black and red gems. She placed it onto her head and looked into the mirror.

"You look beautiful," Katerina said, shrugging, and Elena turned around, shocked by the compliment. It must be the nicest one her sister had ever given her.

"Thank y-"

Her sister flipped her hair. "I mean, I of course would wear it better." She shrugged as Elena rolled her eyes. "But you look pretty good too." Wandering around the room, Katerina paused at one of the beautiful pieces of royal jewellery, touching it carefully as she spoke. "I think it's time we called a truce, don't you?" She turned her head to look at Elena and the brunette frowned.

"You tried to get our friend to rape me, then when your own fiancé left you, you attempted to steal mine. That's not something easily forgivable, Katerina."

Her sister nodded. "I'm sorry." Elena's eyes jerked upwards. She was sorry? Another series of words she was pretty sure she'd never heard the other girl say. "Do you think forgiveness is possible for someone like me, after everything I've done?"

Elena's eyes immediately softened and she moved around to sit beside her sister on the bed, putting a hand on hers. "Of course it i-" her sentiments were interrupted by a strong knock to the head from behind and she collapsed face first onto her sister's lap.

Easily prying the other girl off her, Katerina turned to her partner in crime, the one who'd turned her in the first place. "Careful, don't kill her." Then she paused, as if considering it. "On second thought, go ahead- she can't go running off to _**darling Elijah**_ if she's dead." She pulled Elena's wedding dress off of her, added her shoes, and finally the jewellery and tiara. Turning to face herself in the mirror, she tried to make her voice as sickly sweet as possible. "Hi, I'm Elena Petrova."

Her ally grinned and Katerina returned the sentiment, turning back to her sister one last time as she reached the threshold.

"Sorry sister," smirked Katerina to her twin's limp body. "Better you die than I."

 _ **Next Time: Caroline, Bonnie and Elijah try to save Elena, a familiar face returns, and Klaus becomes frustrated when Caroline won't give him what he wants.**_


	7. Savior

_**Chapter 7:**_

 _ **AN: There's a small M part this chapter. If you want to skip it you can still understand the story. I'll tell you where it starts and where it ends so just scroll past if you don't want to see it.**_

 _ **Previously: Bonnie, Davina and Kol carried out a serious spell to get the white oak stake.**_ _ **Meanwhile the couples were about to start the wedding when Katerina and the person that turned her knocked Elena out, taking her place.**_

 _ **June 1492**_

Elena woke up, tied to a chair and entirely disoriented. She tried to pull free but it was futile, doing so only brought her notice to the huge bleeding cut on her hand, and the bucket beneath it. "Wh-" she saw a dark figure sat in the corner of the room, shrouded in shadow. "What are you doing?"

"Doppelgänger blood is rare. I need some of it for a spell, and maybe some extra, to get me out of any future... sticky situations." Elena immediately started fighting even harder to break free and her captor just laughed, their voice becoming patronising. "Don't worry sweetheart, I'm not going to drain you. Your lovely sister was all for me killing you, but I have other plans." Her eyes drooping from the huge amount of blood she had lost, Elena looked down to the pail filled with the red liquid, seemingly swimming before her eyes.

* * *

She woke up to her best friends shaking her and repeating her name worriedly. Elijah had his wrist to her mouth and his blood was pooling into her mouth. Pushing his arm away, she let out a long gasp and then sighed in relief when she realised her hands and legs were free to move.

"Oh my god Elena, are you okay?" Asked Caroline, still in her wedding dress. "What happened?"

"I-" Elena opened her mouth to speak and then realised she had no idea. "I don't remember." She hadn't seen the face of her captor, just a black mask.

Elijah was pacing up and down as her friends talked to her and when they eventually left she held out her arms and stood up, him rushing towards her. He enveloped her in a tight hug and then pulled back and stared at her face. "I saw the blood and you- you weren't waking up at first. I was so worried-" she stopped him with a kiss to the lips.

"How did you find me?" She asked after a moment.

He shifted, looking a lot less than his usual entirely put-together self. He only ever looked like that with her. "The wedding was soon to begin but you hadn't appeared yet. I snuck away to go find you and saw 'you' in your bedroom, brushing your hair. I grabbed your hand and told you we had to be going and you just- you didn't seem like you." He placed a hand on her heart. "I know you, and that wasn't you. I figured it out when she tried to kiss me."

"Tried?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Tried." He confirmed. "And failed. Now she's rotting in a cell in the dungeons."

Elena let out a shocked gasp at that, completely unsuspecting. "My parents-"

"Found out what she did to you and were more than willing to let us lock her away." He touched a piece of her hair. "She's never going to hurt you again."

Elena leaned up and kissed him once more then pulled back. "Let's go get married."

"What? You just got nearly drained of blood!"

"You healed me! And after hearing what you did, it just makes me even more desperate to call myself Elena Mikaelson." Elijah grinned and took her hand, pulling her along down the hallways to the chapel.

* * *

The chapel was refilled with guests, the princes were soon to walk down, and Bonnie was dressed in an elegant white bridesmaid dress, watching the whole thing with mixed emotions. "This is your last chance, you know," An obnoxious voice rung out and Bonnie jumped, turning around to find Kol right in front of her.

"My last chance for what?"

"To grab me before I'm a married man." She rolled her eyes and tried to turn and move away but he wouldn't get out of her way.

"Do you need something else?" She snapped, aware of her tone but not wanting to change it.

Kol shook his head slowly and then took her hand. "I just wanted to say thank you." He kissed it. "For helping Davina and I. My siblings and I will be forever indebted to you, Mistress Bennett." After dropping her hand, he made his way down the aisle as the music played out, followed by the other boys. Now it was her turn. She and the Queen's ladies walked out in their matching dresses, taking the pews closest to the front, save the space designated for the royals. As fate would have it, Bonnie found herself right behind Lady Nora and Mary-Louise. The two women were sat with their hands intertwined, though Bonnie didn't miss the smile Nora gave her when she was walking down.

With an effort, she focused her eyes on the ceremony, which had already started. The priest was by now at the vows part for the first couple, Kol and Davina. "Till death do us part," Bonnie almost let out a groan at the irony of it and she didn't miss the smirk playing at Kol's lips at the words. At the 'I do's, she felt something- a chill running through her bones, and she had to look down, away from the happy couple. When she looked back up Stefan and Rebekah had had their turn and it was Klaus and Caroline now. The two blonds seemed certainly the least united, barely looking at each other as they repeated their vows, and Caroline hesitated when it came time to say the binding words.

As a contrast, Elijah and Elena were practically beaming, and as soon as the priest began to tell the princes to kiss their brides, they were together, lips, and probably tongues, meeting. Stefan and Rebekah were sharing a long kiss too, and Kol and Davina broke apart smiling up at each other, but Caroline pulled away from her husband as soon as he released her. Bonnie heard a giggle beside her and turned to the red headed lady in waiting sat there. She wasn't sure of her name, something beginning with an 'A'? She focused her eyes on her and muttered an incantation which made the girl's mouth seem to button closed. Bonnie couldn't suppress the smile on her face.

* * *

Rebekah grinned as she finished the traditional waltz with her new husband and he spun her into a more free-spirited routine, the both of them laughing. She was thrilled with this marriage, finally some love for her, after centuries of loneliness. Of course, with her life though, this couldn't last forever.

At the end of the dance, Klaus appeared behind her and whispered into her ear to meet her brothers in a few minutes.

She waited until she could, and then she snuck away, praying her parents hadn't noticed. Speeding into Nik's room, she noticed her brothers assembled there. "What took you so long Bekah?" Teased Kol, she just smacked him away.

"Do you have it?" She asked her two oldest brothers and they gestured to the one closest to her in age. "Kol?" She clarified, stunned.

"I am capable of persuasion Bex," her brother said, a little huffily.

"Come on then," Nik said. "We don't have all night- show us."

Their brother shrugged. "Davina has it."

Elijah raised an eyebrow. "Do you trust her with it?"

Kol nodded. "Of course I do. Do you not trust your new wife?" Elijah sighed and gave him an unimpressed look but didn't fight.

"Alright then," Nik said. "The next full moon will be the sacrifice, and then when I have gained more control over my new form, we strike." The siblings nodded. "Get back to the ball," he ordered. "We can't be noticed."

* * *

Caroline sat on a bench watching the dancing all around her. The wedding had been tense, in fact they hadn't spoken all day. At the ball he'd only taken her for the first traditional dance and then he'd swept a red headed lady in waiting up for the next, complimenting her all the while. "Oh Lady Aurora, you dance so gorgeously." "Oh Lady Aurora, your beauty can compare with no other." "Oh Lady Aurora" bleurgh. She sat alone for a little while and then she was tapped on the shoulder and a male voice asked her to dance. She spun around, quickly recognising the voice, and launched herself into the man she missed more than anything.

"Matt!" She drew back, staring at his face, and running her hands along it as if to check he was real. "How is this possible? I-what- how are you here?"

He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "The King and Queen brought me, as your wedding present. Congratulations." She smiled over at her biological parents and then looked back to Matt. "I have to leave with them tomorrow, so there's no time to waste." He held out a hand. "M'lady." She giggled at such formality from him and readily took the hand.

As they danced she briefly glanced over his shoulder and saw Klaus staring at them, an expression like rage on his face. When he noticed she was looking he quickly spun Lady Aurora around and traced his hand along her cheek. She rolled her eyes. He wanted to win a game she had no interest in playing. Her only goal for tonight was to have some fun with her best friend.

* * *

The royal couples were escorted to their bedrooms, as custom dictated, and as soon as the door shut on Klaus and Caroline, she sat down on the bed. He began to approach and when he reached her he put his hands on the strings of her corset. She pulled away quickly, unconsciously covering her body with her hands. He looked at her as fire burned in his veins and she sighed. "Please. Not tonight."

"When then?"

She shrugged, and he gestured for her to get out if she wasn't going to give him what he wanted. He could easily find someone else. He was Klaus Mikaelson for god's sake. His first thought was the redhead he had danced with at the ball, and soon enough she was in his bed. She was easy to convince, entirely unlike Caroline. She also threw himself at him, very unlike Caroline as well.

 ** _-M Part-_**

His red headed distraction entered the room in a long silky nightgown like she'd been waiting for his command he'd had the servant deliver. She didn't speak a word as she undid the strings of her nightgown and let it fall to the floor, leaving her utterly bare. Slowly, with a little too much effort if he was being honest, she slid onto the bed and moved her fingers down to him in a calculated motion. She pulled off his clothes and fingered him expertly but while he couldn't deny the bodily pleasure, it wasn't what he truly wanted right now. When she saw that wasn't working to the fully desired effect, she began to grind against him, holding his cock. She stroked it, whispering about how he made her core feel "on fire" and that she knew he'd come to "his senses" eventually and choose a girl who could handle it rough, before working her way down; licking along each side of his cock as she stared at it. She looked up like a siren as she swirled her tongue but he just gazed into space as she worked her magic.

 _ **-M Part Done-**_

He couldn't deny that she was talented, but despite himself, the whole time they were together, he couldn't stop thinking of all the ways she was unlike Caroline, and probably due to thinking of her so much, she burst into the room, just after they had both climaxed.

"Klaus I'm s-" She froze on the threshold and stared at the two of them. Lady Aurora was straddling him, facing away from his new wife, but she spun her head and gave her a victorious smirk. He rolled his eyes and pushed her off of him. He was done with her for tonight anyway.

She left, albeit reluctantly, and Caroline marched forwards, glaring. "How cruel can you be," she hissed. "To take our customs, spit on them, and throw them back in my face."

"If you cannot please me, on our wedding night of all nights, then why shouldn't I take my pleasure from elsewhere." He smirked wolfishly as he propped his naked body up on one elbow. "After all, I am prince of the Kingdom of the Night. What did you think I do in the dark?"

She stared at him disbelievingly, breathing at a fast rate. God, she was so beautiful- but it was wrong to care. Love is a vampire's greatest weakness, he reminded himself over and over like a mantra. Much better to get someone who could give him quick satisfaction like Aurora. No strings attached.

Caroline turned around and left, probably for her old room. It was getting late.

As he lay alone in his bed, Klaus had too much time and emptiness in his mind. It left him to consider if he'd done the right thing. She was a teenager, and she was human, so easily breakable. Did he really want to hurt her just so she couldn't hurt him? He was paranoid, and jealous, and that was all due to his upbringing. He'd never been Mikael's favourite child, but as soon as his father had found out he was a bastard he'd treated him differently, even worse. He never talked to him as much as the others, except to shout. He never called him 'son' anymore, just 'boy'. He'd even gone so far as to whip him, and leave him screaming on the floor. To love was to open yourself up to vulnerability, and a man like Klaus, so damaged by his demons, couldn't inflict those on anyone else. This was his battle to suffer alone.

* * *

It had been a lonely week since the wedding when Queen Esther approached Caroline, asking her to come meet her in her private rooms, she had something important to ask of her, she said.

 _ **Next Time: Esther encourages Caroline to make a choice which will push Klaus over the edge.**_


	8. Revolution

**_Chapter 8:_**

 ** _Previously: Elena's blood was taken by the person who turned Katerina, but they let her go, double crossing Katerina, and meaning she got sent to the dungeons._**

 ** _The royal couples got married but Caroline wouldn't consummate her marriage with Klaus, so he had sex with Lady Aurora, which Caroline walked in on. She left the room, betrayed, and a week later was approached by Esther._**

 ** _June 1492_**

"You want me to be unfaithful to my husband?" Caroline's eyes widened. What type of trick was this? Were they going to make her cheat and then turn against her and hang her for it?

"Yes," said Esther. "Vampires cannot procreate, so I will be having this conversation with the other princesses as well." She made a gesture and a guard turned around and walked to the door at the back of the room. "It is for the good of the kingdom, people will become suspicious if none of you become with child soon." The guard returned, bringing with him a couple of men with glazed over eyes, clearly compelled. They were all dark blondes with blue eyes and looked like cheap impersonations of Klaus. Esther urged her forwards, just as the doors behind her swung open. Caroline made to turn around but before she could an arm wrapped around her waist and yanked her into the man's chest possessively.

"My wife will not be sleeping with another man," his voice was domineering, controlled. His mother made to protest but Klaus just repeated his words. "I said, she will not sleep with another man." He locked his gaze on the men and hissed, "leave here, forget everything you saw and never return." They hesitated, as if battling a previous compulsion, perhaps by the King? She couldn't see Klaus' eyes but from the way his voice seemed to momentarily lose control she guessed they were livid. "LEAVE NOW OR I WILL RIP OUT YOUR THROATS!" The men all left out the back door and Esther's angry eyes went to her middle child, clearly saying they would be talking about this later. Klaus didn't acknowledge it, instead spinning around, with Caroline still in his arms, and practically dragging her out of the room.

* * *

He was speeding towards a room, she wasn't aware which one until he opened the door and pushed her inside, slamming the door behind her. She tried not to cower at his anger. He pushed her onto the bed and looked like he was about to leave when she interrupted in a voice that she had hoped to be strong and confident but came out weak and trembling. "Why?" She couldn't even finish her sentence.

A few moments passed and she thought that perhaps Klaus had not heard her but no, he was frozen by the door. Slowly, he turned around and walked towards his bed, towards her. He seemed like a snake, gradually advancing towards his prey before he was sure to strike. She started to move backwards, away from him but then he was beside her and she stopped. His hand reached up and started to stroke down through her hair, across her cheek. "Because you are MINE." What? What had been her question? Oh right, why did he care if she cheated because...

"But you slept with Lady Aurora." His hand dropped and her head did too, minutely, feeling lost without the contact.

"My business is none of yours princess," Klaus said and she suddenly found herself angered.

"Do you realise how much of a double standard that is?" But Klaus wasn't listening, he was out the door, leaving it open. Where was he going? Why had he just left her here, on his bed? Confused, she started to get to her feet, but then Klaus returned, bringing his siblings with him. The three of them glanced at the girl on the bed and then to their brother, as if asking for an explanation. He gestured to Elijah, who shut the door and put down some herbs or something before beginning to burn them. They waited a few moments in silence before smoke started to move throughout the room. Kol moved outside and the others started to speak, about nothing in particular. Their brother returned, saying it was working, he couldn't hear them from outside. A privacy spell? What could they need to do in Klaus' room privately with her here? Her heart started to sink and she tried to get up but Klaus pushed her back onto the bed.

Elijah gave him a look. "Now Niklaus, explain what is going on?"

"We must do it tonight," he said, looking at each of his siblings in turn. "After the ritual."

"But we were supposed to wait. Don't you want to try and gain control of this new side of you before we carry it out?" Rebekah asked.

Klaus shook his head. "Things have changed now." He nodded to Caroline. "Mother is trying to make her sleep with another man, they are causing only problems, we must get rid of them- tonight." Caroline gasped before she could stop herself and saw Kol smirk before he turned to his brother.

"I'm in. I'll go get the doppelgänger, 'Lijah'll be too soft with her."

Klaus nodded and his youngest brother took off, turning to Rebekah. She reached into her boot and pulled out a rock. "I've got the moonstone, I'll go get the witch." The princess left now, and the two eldest brothers glanced between each other.

"I'll turn a servant, you get the wolf from the dungeon." Klaus said and Elijah nodded.

"I know it's been a long time brother," the older prince said. "But the time is almost up, you can be your full self."

The blond man nodded. His eyes darted to Elijah. "Will you be able to do this? I know how much family means to you. Will you be able to help me murder our parents?" The harsh words completely caught Caroline's attention, and they were clearly a test to stir up some feeling in Elijah. He passed.

"Family above all. And any parent of mine that does not treat my brother as their child, is not family to me." The prince turned around and left the room, leaving Caroline alone in the room with a satisfied looking Klaus.

He turned to her and smiled, a smile that seemed somehow both villainous and sweet. "The time is almost up." He put his hands on either side of her face and looked into her eyes. "Stay here until I return, don't draw any attention or try to leave." He let his hand trail slowly down her cheek and the corner of his mouth tug up before he left the room, her glancing down to the bracelet Bonnie had given her as a wedding present.

* * *

"I'm sorry m'lady but Prince Niklaus said I wasn't to let you leave this room." She turned around and went back into her husband's room, groaning and shutting the door on the guard. What to do now? Klaus had compelled the guard not to let her leave. The only other way out was running past him or- her eyes fell on the window and she moved over to it, pushing it open. Peering her head out, she tried to decide what to do. It was a long way down, if she fell she would definitely at least break a leg, if not cause worse damage, but there were ledges, bits she could grab onto and put her feet on to use to climb down. She remembered Matt and Tyler teaching her how to climb years ago, admittedly her skirts had been a whole lot less pouffey back then- it was worth a try though. Clambering down, Caroline saw her life flash before her eyes at least three times and just as she was nearing the ground her foot slipped. She fell down, bending her knees as she did and almost landing gracefully on her feet- almost! Getting to her feet she tried to think what to do next. Originally her plan had been to go find Bonnie and get her help, but she was down on the floor now, and she knew the guards would soon be coming around on their checks of the palace grounds. She glanced around but couldn't see a sign of any of the siblings, until she saw a brief flash. Was it just her eyes playing tricks on her, or was that one of the Original vampires? Only one way to find out. Caroline grabbed her skirts and raced towards the trees.

* * *

She ran and ran and started to think maybe she should just turn back when there was a crinkling behind her. Stood with his arms crossed leaning against a tree in only black clothes was Prince Kol. "I thought my brother compelled you to stay in the room."

She pushed a piece of her hair back, trying not to sound so incredibly out of breath, but walking was hard enough in a corset, running was near impossible. "I may have found a way to avoid compulsion."

Kol smirked, then raised an eyebrow. "I suppose you wish to see what we're doing?" She nodded. "Well then," he sped towards her and wrapped an arm around her. "As the lady wishes."

The sensation of flying through the air was a mixture of exhilaration and feeling like she was about to vomit. Finally it was over and she pulled away from Kol. Klaus noticed her immediately and sped over to his brother, fury in his eyes. "What is she doing here?"

"I have a-" Caroline began but Kol interrupted.

"I found her in the woods, would you rather I have left her there?"

"Take her back to the palace or I'll tear out your liver." The brothers stared at each other, contesting each other and as they did Caroline took in the scene behind them. A cauldron, a woman holding a bottle, three circles each with another woman inside, and one of these was Katerina. The brunette was glaring at the circle of fire around her, seemingly deep in thought, ready to dash at any given moment.

"What is this?" She asked. "Some Satanic ritual?"

Klaus' eyes went to another brother, seeing Kol would be no help. "Elijah, take her back to the palace, she'll be safe there." The eldest prince slowly nodded and Klaus exhaled in relief. Her husband moved away without speaking to her and she saw the woman, a witch, drop one of the circles of fire, Klaus stepping inside and advancing on the blonde woman who stood there, who was trembling with fear.

Elijah wrapped an arm around her, but not in the uncomfortable way Kol had, and sped her back to the palace, the sounds of screams fading and fading into eventual nothingness.

* * *

Klaus woke up on the forest floor. Behind him was Elijah, holding out clothes, Rebekah, holding out a white oak stake, and Kol, holding out his own deadly hand, covered in blood. It was still dark and his siblings had on smiles he was sure he was reflecting. He was a hybrid now, and by morning, his parents, his tormentors, his killers... would themselves be dead.

Caroline woke up to someone shaking her awake. She'd only gotten an hour or so of sleep after the trauma of last night and when she'd finally gotten to sleep she was being pulled out of the land of dreams. "Mm," she mumbled, pushing the intruder away. "Gwow away."

"You're going to want to hear this." Bonnie's voice said and reluctantly Caroline peeled open her eyes. Her best friends were both stood at the side of her bed in their nightclothes, looking still ruffled with sleep.

"What's wrong?" She asked, suddenly entirely awake. Elena looked like she was trying to shape words but couldn't find the right ones, and then the brunette covered her face with her hands. "What's wrong?" Caroline repeated, looking to Bonnie.

Her friend sighed. "The King was found this morning by a servant- with a white oak stake protruding out of his stomach." Caroline gave her a confused look. "The Mikaelson family aren't just normal vampires- they're the first vampires. The only weapon that can kill them is a white oak stake, and they aren't very abundant."

Caroline took a sharp intake of breath, remembering yesterday. The siblings had gone through with their plan. "So you're saying the King is- dead?"

"Not just that," Bonnie replied as Elena's face turned pale and she sunk into the seat beside Caroline's bed. "The Queen was found in the adjacent room on one side of it." The witch paused. "With her heart on the other side."

"Dear God." Caroline was glad she was sitting leaning against the bedstead now, she was feeling a little faint as well.

Elena looked over. "Who would do such a thing?"

"I know exactly who it was." Caroline said before she could stop herself.

* * *

Elena sat wrapped up in her covers, letting the tears fall freely down her face. Why was she crying? She was so sick of crying! She grabbed the nearest object and threw it at the wall, watching it smash. It didn't do much to help her though, instead she collapsed against the wall, sobs wracking her body. She didn't understand why she felt this way. She shouldn't be feeling this way! Katerina was the most selfish, awful, emotionless person she'd ever met. She'd tried to get their friend to rape her, she'd tried to steal her fiancé, she'd tried to freaking kill her! Yet, she was her sister, her blood, her twin, her family.

"Elena," she felt the hands on her shoulders and looked up through teary eyes to see Elijah. Where before his presence would have comforted her, now she attempted to push him away, with little success. "Dearest, what's wrong?"

She tried to push him again and then she spoke, her voice loud but cracked from her tears. "You know what's wrong," she practically hissed. "You killed her." His eyes widened as he realised she knew and he opened his mouth to speak, probably to lie. She shook her head. "Leave me alone. Get out." Then at a shout. "Get. Out!" He kissed her cheek, whispered that he was sorry, then left.

 _ **Next Time: With his parents finally out of the way Klaus prepares to become King and focuses on creating an army just like him.**_


	9. Freedom

**_Chapter 9:_**

 ** _AN: Just wanted to thank you guys again for all the support so far :) This is a pretty short chapter so I'm going to try to post the next one sooner than a week._**

 ** _Previously: The Originals finally carried out their plan and killed their parents, along with Katerina (as the doppelgänger part of the sacrifice), after making her take the cure. Caroline witnessed the beginning of the sacrifice, then told her friends._**

 ** _July 1492_**

Klaus had never felt more free, more powerful, than he had the last few days. He was a hybrid, he was rid of his parents, and he was king! Well, not quite yet, technically. But he was king in everything but the title. He had the throne, he had the power, he had the Queen. Granted, his wife was still furious at him for the sacrifice, but that wasn't his fault. He'd tried to stop her from witnessing it. He knew now she was on vervain, he suspected it was the witch's doing, but he couldn't bring himself to care too much. Maybe it was a good thing. It would stop him, or any other vampire, from hurting her.

The two of them would be crowned as King and Queen in just over a week from now, since Elijah had agreed he was better at giving counsel than ruling. Anyhow, he was too busy with his wife. The doppelgänger had finally stopped crying all day and night, and had let Elijah back into her bed. He held her and called her 'sweetest' and apologised over and over again.

Meanwhile, Kol and Rebekah spent their nights down in the village with their spouses, partying: this was the kingdom of the night after all.

The four of them had hunted down lone werewolves and Klaus had tried to turn them but so far nothing had worked. That was until he had the realisation that the blood of wolves, vampires and doppelgängers had been used to bind the spell. He was a vampire, they were werewolves, now they needed doppelgänger blood. He'd have to get onto that soon, although Elijah wouldn't be happy. He could imagine someone else who wouldn't be happy as well.

Ah, speak of the devil, or rather the angel, and so she shall appear.

"Caroline!" He called out. She ignored him and he jogged over lazily. "Oh, come on luv," he said. "You can't ignore me forever. Don't you think that even a man such as I is worthy of forgiveness?"

She spoke without turning around, continuing her walk. "I did once when I thought he was worth it." She paused. "But now I know better. Some people can't be saved. People who do terrible things, are just terrible people." She moved away while he stood frozen in the middle of the hall.

* * *

"Beautiful day, isn't it?" Bonnie turned around from her spot on the floor where she had been picking herbs to see Lady Nora standing above her, a fan in her hand, waving it in an odd way she recognised from royal balls. Was she flirting with her? She decided to ignore it for the time being, just nodding her agreement instead. "Although I have a feeling it won't last long. I was heading inside soon; you should as well." Lady Nora walked over to the bench nearest to them and proceeded to talk, Bonnie taking the hint and joining her over there. "I love rain, don't you? It's so... cleansing?"

"Do you have something you need to be cleansed of?" Bonnie asked and Nora's lip quirked upwards, then she seemed to see something and the smile fell off of her face. Bonnie glanced up to where Dahlia's daughter's eyes had been and saw a flash of blonde hair as the figure turned away. Mary-Louise.

Nora's eyes were downcast as she took the opportunity to explain before Bonnie could ask, raising her hand to show Bonnie its bareness as she spoke. "I found out Mary-Lou had done something awful and I threw her ring back at her." Nora sighed and Bonnie reached out and squeezed her hand. "And yet I feel less mad at her now, more sad."

"I'm sorry. Maybe you should just give it some time." Nora nodded, then leant forward and before Bonnie knew what was going on they were kissing. Her eyes flew open but she couldn't bring herself to pull away, Nora's lips were so soft. Mary Louise was so lu- oh no. Mary Louise. Bonnie managed to pull away, finding herself short of breath as she tried to speak, while Nora looked at her expectantly, her fan now resting on her lap. "Your- I know you and Mary-Louise are having an argument but-"

"Don't worry," said Nora soothingly, one hand going out and touching Bonnie's leg. It began to rain, just as Nora had predicted. "I talked to her about it before. She knows how I feel about you." The witch was sure she was open-mouthed. Was this real life? "You're beautiful, and smart, and loyal. You're different to any other witch I've met. You give people like me a chance." People like her, like vampires. Once upon a time she wouldn't have, but these last couple of months had been a dizzying journey and she felt like her morals had completely changed. "And I-" Suddenly the cooling water became a torrent and Nora took her hand. "Let's continue this inside." Bonnie nodded and let Dahlia's daughter pull her inside, both of them tripping over a stick on the way. For no reason whatsoever, it made them laugh in sync and she looked over, grinning, seeing Nora with an expression much the same.

* * *

Nora shut the door behind her and looked over her shoulder at her fiancée. Mary-Lou was sat on the bedcovers one leg over the other in a relaxed fashion as sage burned in the corner for a privacy spell. She raised her eyebrow at Nora and the brunette smirked. "Well," her love asked. "Did you get it?"

Nora came and sat down beside her, her clothes still soaked from the rain. "Patience, Mary-Lou," she said in a chiding fashion. "Bonnie is beginning to trust me, we'll get it soon enough. She isn't particularly fond of my cousins either." She rolled her eyes. "My plan is progressing much faster than that bitch Katerina's."

The blonde rested her head on her and sighed. "You're sure that witch has it?"

"No," replied Nora. "But if she doesn't it will be in my lovely cousin Kol's wife's possession, and I reckon they'll have confided in each other about this." Her eyes glittered with mischief. "The time is coming." Then she caught Mary Lou's expression. "Why are you smiling like that?"

"I can't help it," the other vampire grinned. "You're adorable." Then she caught Nora's chin and brought her lips down to meet her own.

* * *

Stood at the window with the wind from the storm blowing her hair back, and her white nightdress getting wet, Caroline didn't notice her husband until he was upon her. With one hand on her shoulder, which made her jump, he used the other to pull the window closed. "What are you doing?" He asked. "You're going to catch a cold."

"Like you care," she scoffed, still faced away from him. He growled and turned her around to face him. She just shook her head, trying not to let her fear show. As much as she tried to hide it, he still scared her when he got all... animalistic. "Your parents are dead now. You don't have to pretend anymore, I know you only married me because they made you so-" she stopped as he growled again, his fangs emerging, the veins creeping around his eyes, and instead of going blood red they turned a flashing yellowy orange. Her eyes widened in fear but she put her hands to his face, trying to make herself as calm as possible. His eyes darted down to her hands and she watched as the spider like veins slowly disappeared, the fangs receded back into his mouth and the eyes changed from orange to blue. They seemed so innocent, so surprised. In that moment she saw not a monster but a young man who had never been able to grow up, who'd been mistreated and hurt for reasons that weren't even his own doing. Still, she didn't take her hands away, she couldn't seem to.

Klaus glued his eyes onto hers as he spoke in a low voice. "I thought I wasn't worth saving."

Finally, Caroline managed to pull her hands away. She let out a small cough to clear the lump in her throat and then lay down on their marriage bed for the first time. "Maybe I'm not quite done trying yet," she admitted in a whisper.

 _ **Next Time: Klaus decides to try out his theory on making hybrids. Two of the siblings find out about Nora and Mary-Louise's plan.**_


	10. Deja Vu

_**Chapter 10:**_

 _ **AN: So I know I said I'd try to update before a week had gone by but I've got two chapters for you this week instead!**_

 _ **I've decided Kennett is going to be endgame but with some Bonora along the way**_

 _ **Previously: After killing his parents Klaus became leader of the Kingdom. He was failing at making hybrids until he realised he needed Elena's blood to do it. Caroline decided to give him another chance. Bonnie began to bond with Nora, but didn't realise her true intentions yet.**_

 _ **July 1492**_

Slowly, she opened her eyes to see a bed she knew someone else had slept in with her. She had a striking sense of deja vu back to when Klaus had taken her passed out body home from the festival and lain with her, except this time, she woke up first. She rolled over on her side as quietly as possible so as not to wake him, what with his advanced hearing and all. His eyes were shut and his face peaceful. She wondered what he was dreaming about, if anything. Ripping apart villages? Sitting on a golden throne? Her? Her hands went slowly to his mouth, knowing this was her only opportunity to be curious. Gently, she pulled back the corners of his mouth. The fangs weren't visible whatsoever, how did they disappear so quickly? Suddenly, the fangs dropped down and his eyes snapped open. She let out a scream and fell backwards, almost off the bed, causing him to chuckle. "This isn't funny!" Caroline glared, though she found it difficult to keep the expression on her face.

"I know," the corners of his mouth wouldn't go down, despite the fact that he was trying to quell his grin.

"Then stop laughing!" She tilted her head to the side and looked at him chidingly. "You weren't asleep at all, were you?"

Klaus shook his head. "I've been awake for hours, love." She sighed and rolled her eyes, collapsing back onto the bed. Instead of doing the same, he got up and called out to his manservant, who looked a little surprised to see Caroline in his bed. The man bowed to him, fumbling, and Klaus rolled his eyes. He began to get ready, while Caroline averted her eyes, thankfully he was being respectful and doing it where she couldn't see anyway.

"Where are you going?" She called out around the corner.

He paused, as if to decided how much to tell her and she prepared to go on a rant about how if he ever expected her to trust him he had to trust her, when he answered. "To go get some blood donations from your dear friend, Elena."

She pulled herself out of the bed and stormed around the corner, not caring that Klaus was currently shirtless, as he had been in the bed. "You're going to hurt Elena?"

"Not hurt her, luv." He corrected. "Trust me."

She shook her head. "Why should I? I have no reason to- at least not yet."

He sighed. "Come along then."

"What?" She glanced at him.

"Get ready, if you're going to come along to make sure I don't drain your dear friend." He gestured to her maid servant, who'd brought in some clothes for her, and brought her round to a private area to get changed.

* * *

"You're sure you want to do this Kol?" Davina asked, her hand on his as they sat on their bedcovers, the white oak stake in between them. "What if you need it in the future?"

He shook his head, almost seeming angry at her. "No matter what happens my siblings and I would never kill each other. Torture, yes, Nik certainly has." He paused, making a face. "I know he still has those daggers."

Offering him a compassionate half smile, Davina asked, "what was it like? Being in that coffin."

Kol's eyes seemed to glaze over with memories. "The coffin wasn't the problem darling." His eyes met hers suddenly. "It was the feeling of betrayal as one brother plunged a dagger into my heart while the other held me still. And then it was the waking up decades later in a confused state. It felt like yesterday that I had been stabbed but of course it wasn't; so I had to adjust." He grinned. "When mother and father dearest found us they forced the three musketeers to take Finn and I out of our coffins and undagger us. I do think about if Nik will try to put me back in there, but I think he trusts me now, and needs me."

She nodded. "Well, if you're absolutely certain..." he returned the gesture and she nodded to the guard to let Bonnie in. Taking the other witch's hand in one of hers and her husband's in the other, she began to chant. The other two did as well and they continued to as they felt it draining them. Both Bonnie and Davina felt their noses bleeding and even Kol looked weak, but then all three of them collapsed on the bed, the stake beneath her, untouched.

* * *

Elijah played on the piano in their room as Elena sat on the seat nearest to him, writing in her diary, letting the music wash over her and cleanse her. Abruptly, the door behind them opened and Elijah stopped playing. She closed her book and turned to see her husband's brother and her best friend walk into their rooms.

"Niklaus," Elijah hissed, coming to his feet. "What is the meaning of this intrusion?" She followed his eyes and noticed the bucket Klaus carried. Her eyes widened in confusion.

"Brother," Klaus started, dropping the bucket with a clatter and looping an arm around Elijah's shoulder. "I need only a little of fair Elena's blood to make my hybrid army-"

"No." Elijah said definitely and Klaus' eyes narrowed.

"Excuse me?"

"I said no," Elijah repeated and the two brothers stood matched, the veins beginning to appear around their eyes as they got into a stance, heads close together, as if they were about to fight.

Elena looked over to Caroline and then back to the brothers. "Stop it! I'll do it."

Her husband looked over to her. "Elena-"

She raised offered a small smile. "Thank you for trying to protect me Elijah, but I can make my own decisions. And I know if I refuse, your mongrel brother will just kill the rest of my family." She hadn't thought he was so bad when she'd first arrived, but recent events had drawn her to take Bonnie's original side on the hybrid king.

"Excellent." Klaus' face lit up with a smirk. "I knew there was a reason I liked you." She just glared as they set up the bucket and he took a dagger from his pocket. "This won't hurt too much."

She had to grit her teeth and clutch onto Caroline's hand with the one Klaus hadn't cut; she'd never been good with blood. Her eyes flitted to Elijah, sat on the piano bench once again, his eyes downcast and pained and she gave the smallest smile at the fact that he was so worried for her. Klaus followed her gaze and smirked but didn't say anything, surprisingly.

When her vision started to blur, reminding her all too much of the last time she'd 'given blood', she caught Elijah getting up and moving towards her. "That's enough," he told his brother and shoved the bucket towards him, biting into his own hand and lifting it gently to her mouth. She let the coppery taste in and felt the pain begin to disappear as her cut closed up.

"How do you feel?" Asked Caroline.

"Fine." Elena squeezed her hand one more time, this time in thanks. "Thanks Care."

"Oh thank _you_ , lovely." Klaus stroked down her face and she didn't miss the furious expressions both Elijah and Caroline sent his way.

* * *

Lips pushing against each other, Rebekah jumped up, wrapping her legs around Stefan's waist, and continuing her assault on his lips. She didn't know why Klaus had known about this relationship so long and not tried to ruin it, but perhaps it was because this time he had his own. Whatever the reason, she was glad, Stefan was an excellent kisser.

Pausing as she heard voices, Rebekah put a finger to his lips and her husband nodded. She activated her vampire hearing and heard a door close. "I'll go look for it, you charm the _lovely_ witch."

"Is someone jealous?" Asked a teasing voice she immediately recognised- Nora.

Mary-Louise, she now realised the other voice must be, made a groaning noise and told Rebekah's cousin to "just go!" Their footsteps parted ways in separate directions, and Rebekah wasn't quite sure who she wanted to follow. She considered asking Stefan to follow one of the women but he wasn't a vampire, he wouldn't be able to catch them up if they used vamp-speed, so she begged him to go back to their rooms and before he could protest she was gone.

* * *

Mary-Louise used her vampire hearing as she leant against the wall and when she heard nothing she snuck into the room, pushing the door open gingerly just in case. There were people in the room. She froze when she saw them collapsed on the bed, panicked they'd see her and all this work would be for nothing, but Nora's cousin, her crush and his wife were all unconscious. She was about to turn around and come back later when her eyes fell on a glinting object underneath the youngest witch. Tiptoeing forwards, she carefully pried her hand under it and tried to pull out the white oak stake, only for a hand to grab onto her wrist. Her eyes shot open as she looked down at a suddenly very awake Prince Kol. "Well, well," his villainous eyes looked up at her. "What do we have here?"

As if things couldn't get any worse, Princess Rebekah appeared behind her. "I've been following her for the past few minutes and she made a bee line for your room." She turned the other blonde to face her and her pupils dilated. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing." Mary-Louise replied, trying to make her voice as gormless and compelled sounding as possible. The two originals both studied her for a few seconds before they shook their heads at each other.

"It really is very unfortunate you couldn't be honest with us, love." Rebekah yanked her upwards and looked at her brother.

He looked down at the two witches still lying on his bed and gestured to her. "Go ahead, I'll be down once they've woken up... and I've found our cousin dearest." The Original sister rolled her eyes then pulled Mary-Louise out of the door, down and down.

"You're not going to hurt me," The blonde said. "I'm practically family. And I know how you feel about family."

Rebekah gave her a very fake smile. "My family doesn't abstain from harming each other, just the killing," she paused. "Usually." Her eyes flickered to her cousin-in-law's face. "We have been known to make exceptions though." Mary-Louise shut her mouth for the rest of the short journey down to the dungeons, until Rebekah began to chain her to the walls.

"What are you doing?" She asked in shock. Pulling on the chains and finding them stable, the sister many seemed to think of as sweet turned to a torture table and unsheathed a knife, approaching on the vampire slowly. She pressed it against the fabric of Mary-Louise's dress and she felt the blood begin to pool out there.

Finally, Rebekah answered. "I'm draining you sweetheart." She giggled. "You're going to be telling me the truth at some point today, one way or another!"

* * *

As Klaus grinned at his bucket of blood on the walk down to the throne room, Caroline sighed in exhaustion. "Why are you so obsessed with making hybrids anyway?" He may have thought she hadn't been paying attention to what he'd been up to recently but she had, just, from a distance. "Why do you even need them?"

"You are jesting, right?" Klaus turned his head to her and she gave him a confused expression. "An immortal army with unwavering loyalty towards me, their _king._ " He grinned. "Now who wouldn't want that?"

She glared at him. "But is it worth-?"

"Your bestie Elena getting a mild pinch every now and then?" Klaus finished for her. "Of course."

She refused to relent. "She didn't look like she was experiencing a mild pinch. She isn't a vampire or hybrid or whatever like you are, she actually feels pain."

"One," he combatted. "We vampires or hybrids or 'whatever' do feel pain, we just heal quickly, a luxury she can get immediately from Elijah's blood. Two, she isn't human. She's the doppelgänger- her blood is special, and was meant to be used in rituals such as this."

Caroline glanced at him confused. "The doppel- what?"

As they rounded the corner into the room he touched her cheek. "I'll give you a lesson on all things supernatural some other time, sweetheart, but for now I must do this and you must leave." At her look he added. "I don't think you'll want to see this."

She glanced into the room and saw many men in there, held by guards. Her eyes fell to the bucket Klaus carried and she nodded minutely. For once, he was probably right.

* * *

"Now Nora," said Kol, hours after they had brought the two women in there. "What are you and your lovely girl hiding from us?"

"Nothing!" Their cousin continued to deny so Rebekah turned to Mary-Louise and asked her the same question.

"We wanted to steal the white oak stake." She said in a monotone voice, then her expression became panicked and she looked to Nora. "I'm so sorry!"

Kol took the knife and began to advance towards the blonde's heart, but his sister pushed him back. "Oi!" he declared angrily. He was in a bit of a murderous mood after all this torture and no results for hours.

Rebekah shook her head. "If it was anyone else I'd agree with you but they're family. I'll compel this one to forget about her apparent vendetta and never look for the white oak stake or return here again, you keep testing Nora until she's ready for the same."

"No, Rebekah!" Nora cried out to her cousin. "You don't understand, we didn't want to use it on you, I swear." Her eyes darted to Kol. "Either of you." He gave her a look that told her to continue. This should be interesting. "Just Niklaus. My moth-"

Rebekah's eyes turned red with fury and she vamp sped over to her cousin, grabbing her heart and squeezing. Nora panted heavily for breath while her fiancée sobbed, beside her, yet unable to stop this. "Family or not," Rebekah hissed. "If you hurt my brother, I will rip your heart out of your chest."

* * *

Sat amongst the dead bodies, Klaus turned the dagger over in his hands. This was the make or break moment. If this didn't work, he didn't know what would.

Finally, the wolves began to wake up. He grabbed a cup and dunked it into the bucket of the doppelgänger's blood. Taking it to the nearest wolf, he poured it into his mouth and then focussed his eyes intensely on him as the wolf bent over, screaming in agony. His pack, who were waking up, looked over in worry when suddenly the wolf leant up on his knees, his eyes flashing yellow and, tellingly, a pair of fangs appearing as he snarled.

A slow smirk made it's way onto Klaus's face as he dunked the cup back into the bucket. "Well that's a good sign."

 _ **Next Time: Nora goes back home to face Dahlia and Klaus invites a familiar face back to please Caroline.**_


	11. Something Wicked

_**Chapter 11:**_

 _ **Previously: Klaus figured out he needed Elena's blood to turn werewolves to hybrids so took it. It worked.**_

 _ **Rebekah and Kol found out that Nora and Mary-Louise have been plotting against them and compelled them to leave and never return. Just before, Nora tried to tell Rebekah something about Dahlia, but her cousin interrupted her before she could.**_

 _ **July 1492**_

Dahlia glared at the carriage as her daughter arrived back home. "What are you doing here?" She asked, marching down the staircase to the two vampires. Nora, an arm laced with her fiancée, told her mother that they wanted to leave and be married. "What is the meaning of this?" Dahlia hissed, jerking her daughter away from Mary-Louise. "I told you to kill my nephew and clear the throne for me. I see the throne is still occupied and yet you have returned. Why?"

Nora looked back over her shoulder to the blonde. "I- I wish to marry Mary-Lou. I don't want to do this anymore. I never want to return to that palace!"

Dahlia glared. "And so you never shall." She snapped the chair beside her and with the other hand pushed her daughter down with magic. Instead of staking Nora, at the last second she changed her aim and pushed the wooden leg into Mary-Louise, who had run over to help her fiancée, 's heart. Her daughter let out a heart wrenching scream as she tried to get to the blonde but Dahlia's magic held her in place. "Get out of my sight," Dahlia hissed. "Before I change my mind."

Released from the magic, Nora lifted the blonde's body into her arms and ran back to her carriage- where she pulled the stake out of her beloved's heart. She wouldn't wake though. "NO!" Nora let out a strangled scream and collapsed on the body which was now being covered with veins. As her driver began to interrupt she screeched, "GRAVESTONE MANOR" at him.

Dahlia watched as her daughter left and then spun on her heel. Time for Plan B.

* * *

"It's indestructible," observed Bonnie tiredly as she, Davina and Kol woke up from their third failed attempt to destroy the white oak stake. This time they'd even channelled Rebekah, but nothing was working. "Absolutely indestructible."

"The next best thing to do is cloak it," Rebekah suggested. "I'm sure you can do _that_ without my help, so I'll be off now."

Bonnie rolled her eyes at the blonde's abrupt disappearance then suddenly remembered where she was supposed to be. "Oh no."

"What?" Asked Davina.

"Nora wanted me to meet her today, like right now. I'd better get going." She began to stand up but Kol stopped her.

"I wouldn't bother, she won't be there."

Bonnie raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Why not?"

Kol told her, as if it were casual dinner conversation, that after they finished trying to destroy the stake for the first time yesterday, Mary-Louise had come in to try to steal it to use on Klaus. Kol and Rebekah found out and compelled her and Nora to leave and never come back.

Before Bonnie had the time to process this there was a knock on the door. Davina grabbed the white oak stake and hid it from view before the doors were pulled open and in entered a servant holding a letter. Kol attempted to take it but the servant pulled away and flashed to Bonnie. "I was instructed to only give this to you." He gave the three a quick bow and then he was gone again at vampire speed.

Appearing behind her back, Kol commented, "that is my cousin's seal". She jumped a little before pushing him away, telling him to go help Davina with the cloaking spell. The younger witch was certainly capable of doing it alone, but she didn't want Kol reading the letter from Nora over her shoulder.

 _Dearest Bonnie,_

 _I suspect by now my cousins will have told you about what we did, and I am sorry to have betrayed you so, you should know my feelings for you were real. I pray you will also know how important it is to tell the others that my mother Dahlia was behind our actions. I beg you to believe me. She wishes to become the queen and convinced me to turn Katerina into a vampire, then try to steal the stake. When we returned she killed Mary-Lou and now I want to kill her, but I know I don't have enough power; so I tell you this both because I want you to be safe, and because I hope you will destroy her._

 _She has a backup plan. I don't know much about it, she's never let me into the room where she keeps it, although once I caught a glimpse of coffin type object in there. Apart from that, all I know is that it's a weapon and she keeps it secret._

 _Good luck, and if you survive this, I hope you will somehow find a way to forgive me, however selfish that hope may be._

 _Yours remorsefully,_

 _Nora_

* * *

As she sat at the dinner table with just Klaus, Caroline quickly downed her drink then turned to him. "So, why are we having dinner together?... without the others."

He raised his glass to her. "Today is a special day."

In return, she raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess, the day you've successfully gained a sired hybrid army to do your bidding?"

"Well, that too." Klaus smirked. "But I was going to say, it's your birthday!"

She frowns in confusion, shaking her head. "My birthday's October."

"Your parents told you it was October so that no-one figured out your true identity."

"Oh." She sighed. Just another lie to add to the endless list that was her old life. "So, how old even am I? Fifteen? Twenty?" She didn't hold back the bitterness in her voice and saw him smile at it.

"Eighteen," he dug into his pocket and produced a box. "Happy birthday Caroline."

Taking it from him, she clicked it open and found inside a bracelet made out of blue and red jewels, with a drawing of her sister underneath it. She looked up at him in shock and he smiled sweetly. "Bonnie said you talk about your sister a lot, so I thought you might want something to remind you of her for your birthday." She could feel tears prickling at her eyes at the thought he had put in as she stared at the drawing that looked so real she thought Meredith might just jump out of it. "There's one more thing." She vaguely heard him saying and when she looked up, the drawing went out of her line of vision and was replaced with a life size version of her sister instead.

Caroline blinked harshly and looked to Klaus, her mouth wide open. "It's real, sister." Said that familiar voice and she leapt up and wrapped her arms around her, letting out a little sobbed "Meredith!"

As the two girls talked, Klaus sat at the table, eating. "He's very handsome," Meredith whispered at a very low volume but Caroline could tell by the pleased smirk on his face that Klaus had picked up on it.

She stuck her tongue out at him and whispered, "yeah, well, he has cooties."

Klaus snorted and Meredith looked over, Caroline just shrugging innocently to the unanswered question, the mischievous smile on her face growing.

* * *

"Wake up darling." Her eyes flew open as she smelt the herbs being wafted in front of her nose. "Ah, good, you're wide awake." Dahlia extended a hand to her and she pulled herself out of the coffin, refusing to take it. The older woman's forehead creased with a frown. "I do hope you remember what happens if you don't obey me."

"Of course," her voice was hoarse from a century in that coffin, but the sarcasm still penetrated through in her sharp words. "What is it you want?"

* * *

As they mounted the stairs after dinner, Caroline thanked Klaus. "That was very kind of you."

He shrugged. "Well, the others get to see their families occasionally, so I thought it unfair you only get to see those you have never known..." he faded off as they entered their room and she pushed the door closed behind her before the guards could. Advancing a step forwards so she was just in front of him, she got up on her tiptoes, she was quite a bit shorter than him without heels on, and pressed their lips together. For a second he didn't return it, but then, just as she was about to pull away and apologise, he began to kiss back, and wrapped his arms around her waist to stop her from backing away.

His lips didn't taste like blood, surprisingly, she could taste the alcohol on them, faintly, but they were soft and he was a very good kisser. Caroline had to force herself to pull back before they went too far. "Thanks," she whispered with a small smile.

He chuckled. "No problem."

 ** _Next Time: Dahlia sends her Plan B to the palace while Klaus and Caroline spend the night together._**


	12. Closer

_**Chapter 12:**_

 _ **AN: Another two chapters for you guys this week :) We're nearing the end of this story- the last chapter will be 16.**_

 _ **Previously: Dahlia killed Mary-Louise as a punishment to Nora for failing in her plan and awakened her plan B. Klaus brought Meredith to the castle for Caroline's birthday and she thanked him with a kiss... and more?**_

 _ **July 1492**_

As she lay awake staring at the top of the bed, Caroline could hear Klaus's breathing too. She knew he was awake. Slowly, she turned over and whispered, "I can't sleep."

He turned onto his side as well so they were inches apart and replied, "what do you want me to do about that?"

She'd thought he was a monster but he'd lain with her when she was upset, he hadn't hurt Elena, he'd drawn her a picture of her sister then brought Meredith all the way to the kingdom. She took a deep breath. Now or never Caroline. "Kiss me." He looked very confused and she started to say it again when suddenly he complied. His lips didn't taste so much like alcohol anymore, but other than that they were still the same, she liked it. She began to pull him in deeper to try and get more of a taste and he pulled back, sending her a look as if to ask if she really wanted this. Her nod put a smile on his face and he grabbed her face, pulling her into a kiss both soft and heated at the same time, their heads tilting to the right and not banging like she'd done before. Shockingly, his tongue came into her mouth and her eyes widened. He'd kissed her once before, at the wedding, but not like this. Her face flushed with the intimacy of it, soon forgotten as she felt Klaus' tongue continue to explore her mouth and she let out a low moan, which only served to encourage him. Tentatively she tried to do the same and found it more natural than she had thought it would be. Soon their tongues were dancing in unison. She raised her hands from her sides to tangle in his hair without realising it, and he let out his own growl, rolling her over suddenly so he was on top of her. Her heart rate was sky-rocketing as they just stared at each other and then, at the same time, they met in the middle. She arched her hips up, her body knowing what it wanted, and wrapped her legs around his waist.

Pulling away, yet again, Klaus asked "Are you-"

She rolled him over so she was now on top and interrupted, "stop talking!" She didn't know if she'd regret this in the morning, all she knew was that right now, it was what she wanted.

He chuckled, but complied.

* * *

Caroline woke up on her side with a near naked body holding her from behind. She could feel the flesh contact between them, but it was clear he was wearing bottoms now, and she could feel the light undergarments on herself. She blushed and wiggled out of his grip as discretely as possible.

She met her eyes in the looking glass but it didn't look like her. Caroline Fell would never look like this. Ruffled hair, wild eyes, wearing only a short chemise. She tried, with little success, to push her hair down and then eventually abandoned the effort and turned around to get dressed. Her husband was laying propped up on the pillows, a smirk on his face as he looked at her.

She sighed. "I will never wake up before you, will I?"

He shrugged. "Doubtful. Vampires don't technically need sleep, and I never was one to stay down the whole night anyway." For some reason she blushed at that statement, though she was sure he meant it innocently. It just made her remember last night. The passion. The way he'd ripped off the nightdress she wore above her chemise- she saw it tattered on the floor now- then entered her gently, saying he was terrified of hurting her with his enhanced strength. She hadn't been scared though, she'd told him to keep going.

* * *

"So..." said Davina as the royals, bar two, sat at breakfast. "Who heard Klaus and Caroline last night?"

Stefan choked on his food with laughter and Rebekah shot him an amused look while Elena blushed and Elijah put a hand on his wife's arm comfortingly. "Let's not talk about such private matters."

Kol nodded then shook his head. "If they wanted it private they should have used a privacy spell! Now who was it that bet it would take a month from the wedding?"

Bonnie glared at him. "Crude much?" He just chuckled in response.

A knock on the door from a guard brought all their attention to it. "Your highnesses, the Lady Dahlia has sent her ward and wishes for me to introduce her."

Elijah waved the guard a way with a swift hand movement. "If you please, we are having a family breakfast. We will deal with this... ward... later."

"Oh, but I am family." Before the guard could turn around, a blonde woman walked through the door, a smile blooming on her face as she saw them all. "I'd expect a warmer welcome... brother."

Their eyes all fixed on her in shock and confusion, all joking about Klaus and Caroline long forgotten. She stared at them in return, drinking in the sight of them. No-one spoke for a few seconds and then the hybrid was suddenly in the room, a hand pinning his supposed sister to the wall. "You have ten seconds to explain who you really are. Ten, nine-"

"My name is Freya Mikaelson!" The blonde said desperately. "Where's Finn? Or Mother and Father? They'll tell you!" The four remaining siblings looked between each other uncertainly and the girl got the message.

"They're gone, aren't they?"

Klaus rolled his eyes at the choked up sound she was making. "Convenient that you should show up just after Finn has left and we have murdered Mother and Father dearest." Freya gasped at his tone and he chuckled. "Six, five."

"I... I," she looked at those gathered at the table. "I am Esther's first born. She could not have children of her own and so she made a deal with our aunt Dahlia to have them, but it came with a price, that price being me." Her voice cracked. "And every first born from the Mikaelson line."

Elijah stood up from his chair and came to stand beside Klaus. "Mother told us 'Freya' died while she was pregnant with myself. Why should we believe that she is alive, or that you are her?"

The woman sighed. "You are right. With our parents and brother both gone, I have nothing to convince you of my honesty except my own words, and our Aunt Dahlia, whose wrath I would rather not incur, so shall not be seeking the help of."

Rebekah, now beside her brothers, nodded. "Well then, get on with it love."

Freya looked around at her siblings and then sighed. "Dahlia came to collect me when I was only five years old, though she always said that was too late, that I was too rebellious, too loyal to my family." She looked at them with hope in her eyes. "I used to have a life; a mother who kissed me goodnight, a father who named his sword after the colour of my hair, and a brother to play with her." Her eyes went to Elijah now, lighting up. "Elijah. When you were in Mother's womb I used to sing to you. I'd rub her belly as you kicked and giggle at your strength. She would say it was as if Thor himself had raised his hammer-"

"And summoned thunder and lightning." Freya titled her head and smiled as her brother finished the sentence. Klaus, on the other hand, looked furious his brother had been so easily swayed. Sensing his anger, Freya quickly decided to continue.

"But Dahlia took me from all that which I held dear. She kept me in a little cottage, rarely letting me leave and certainly never without her." The smile had fallen from her face and was replaced by a haunted look. "There was another girl there, her daughter-"

"Nora." Interrupted Rebekah. "Our cousin."

Freya nodded. "She practised magic as well but Dahlia bound herself to me alone, sharing my power." She sighed. "When we reached adulthood, she gave us both more freedom, me before Nora as I was older. I realise now she gave it me to make me fall in love, to carry on the bloodline and get more Mikaelson first-borns for her ridiculous coven." A tear pricked in her eye. "She almost got her wish."

* * *

 _Freya searched her aunt's cupboards desperately for what she needed. She needed to do this before Dahlia woke up. She'd just discovered why her aunt was happy to discover her pregnancy and she couldn't let this slavery be her child's destiny. Finally her eyes fell on what she needed, she could sense its deadliness when she touched it and snatched it up, pouring it into her mouth and choking on the vile taste, a smile still on her mouth. She would be free from this hell, and her child along with her. They would be together in heaven. As she begun to black out she saw Dahlia race into the room, screeching "what have you done?! What have you done?!"_

 _The eternal darkness didn't remain. All too soon, Freya's eyes opened and she found herself in her aunt's arms. "Wha-?" She began weakly, but Dahlia was stroking her hair, shushing her. "How am I alive?" She asked, more to the gods than her aunt but the cruel witch answered anyway._

 _"I preserved you," Dahlia said. "Unfortunately, not everyone survived."_

 _Freya's eyes flew open in realisation and she clutched at her stomach, letting out a heart wrenching sob. "No, no, no!"_

 _Dahlia pulled her back into her arms with a chastising noise. "I will forgive you," she whispered in a comforting manner, but it only terrified Freya. "But first you must be punished." She took a knife from beside her and before Freya could scramble away she'd stabbed her in the back with it._

* * *

"That was the day I learned that I could never die." Said Freya bitterly. Rebekah put out a hand to gingerly pat her arm, well aware of how awful a literal dagger in the back felt. Elijah and Kol also both sympathised but Klaus, seeing his siblings pitying her, frowned.

"That's quite enough of that." He stepped forwards and quickly snapped her neck.

"Nik!" Shouted Rebekah, at the same time as Caroline cried out "Klaus!"

He stared at his wife for a second, and then said, "I'd heard quite enough of her lies. Besides," he continued. "If she was telling the truth she'll wake up soon, if not, I can tell you all 'I told you so'."

 _ **Next Time: Bonnie carries out a dangerous spell to try and confirm or deny Freya's identity.**_


	13. Truth

**_Chapter 13:_**

 ** _Previously: Klaus and Caroline consummated their marriage (yay!), Dahlia sent Freya, who claimed to be the sister of the Originals, to the castle as her plan B. She explained her story but Klaus snapped her neck when he saw his siblings beginning to sympathise for her._**

As the family bickered endlessly with Klaus, there was suddenly a gasp and Freya woke up, clutching her neck. Klaus rolled his eyes. "Took you long enough."

She glared at him. "Do you believe me now, Niklaus?"

"Why don't you just compel her to see if she's telling the truth?" Suggested Caroline quickly before Klaus could interject.

"Witches cannot be compelled." Explained Elijah. "And I do believe Freya has given us more than enough reason to at least hear out why she is here."

Klaus glared. "You must be bloody joking Elijah!" He gestured at the blonde. "This- this _woman_ only has to claim to be our long lost sister and tell you a sob story to win you over to _her_ side?"

"She proved herself to be telling the truth when you killed her and she came back to life!" Rebekah countered and Klaus turned to his younger brother.

"Tell me you have not fallen for this too, brother?" He shook his head in disgust.

Kol looked into Freya's eyes and held them for a minute. "I believe her Nik."

Klaus stormed out of the room, Caroline following quickly behind him, as Freya's lips quirked up into a minute smile.

"Klaus?" Caroline called out as she entered his painting room. She'd come here first, remembering what he'd told her about painting to feel in control. "Klaus? Kl-?" She paused, seeing that he was indeed by his easel, rolling his eyes. "There you are! Didn't you hear me?"

"Of course I heard you Caroline," he said, dipping his paintbrush into the red. "I think the whole kingdom heard you."

She rolled her eyes right back at him. "Well I'm sorry for being worried for the general population that you'd gone on a massacre to feel in control." He gave her a look and she sighed. "Ok... I knew you'd be here. This- painting- is your way of gaining control."

He continued to paint, keeping his eyes on the easel. "Is this your attempt at psycho-analysing me?" He asked. "Because you're not very good at it."

"Do you know what I am good at?" She grabbed a piece of his fine arty paper. "Writing lists."

"That paper is very expensive," he complained.

She just put up a chastising finger. "You can compel yourself more." She grabbed one of his pencils. "This is nice." He groaned and she tried not to giggle. "So," she divided the page in two and wrote 'she's telling the truth' on the left and 'she's lying' on the right.

"Oh I can give you a few hundred points to put on the right, luv." Klaus said. She nodded to tell him to go ahead. "Where to begin? Our parents told us she died, she's never shown up in five centuries until right when Nora warned us Dahlia had a weapon, cue today when this girl shows up- FROM DAHLIA!" He banged his fist on the table in frustration. "She weaves an easily fabricated sob story and my siblings fall all over her!"

She scribbled them down seriously then shifted her pencil to the left. "Now let's see why she would tell the truth." She wrote them as she spoke. "One) You killed your parents, implying you never really trusted them so why are you so sure that they were telling you the truth that Freya died. Two) if she did get kidnapped by your crazy aunt maybe she just escaped. Three) why does she look so similar to you? Four) maybe if you heard her out she'd be able to prove it to you."

"None of that is definite evidence, luv," Klaus said and she shrugged.

"Sometimes you just have to hear people out." She approached him. "If you hurt her, and it turns out she was your sister, you'll feel awful."

Putting down the paintbrush, he came over to her. "Trying to stop me from making an awful mistake?" He lent closer, their lips so close she wasn't sure if he was going to kiss her or whisper a threat.

"Your highness!" A voice burst through their world where only they existed and the two royals turned to see Lady Aurora stood in the doorway, or rather, lounging. The expression on her face as she looked at Caroline was animalistic, but when her eyes turned to Klaus they turned sultry. "You have your coronation gown fitting."

Oh God, **that** was tomorrow. Caroline had completely forgotten that she was going to be made queen after the whirlwind twenty four hours she'd just had. She shot Klaus a look that said they would finish this later and then hurried out of the room, taking Lady Aurora with her- not like she was going to leave that slut alone with her husband!

* * *

Bonnie had sat with the Original family, listening to Freya's story, and had found she believed the older girl. It helped that when she touched her she felt a rush of memories; a child screaming for her mother, a woman who looked like Dahlia dragging her along, the blonde kissing a man, him collapsing, her taking a swig of poison and then clutching her stomach and screaming again. She didn't think it would be easy to fake memories like that, and certainly not from another witch. After Klaus had left Freya had explained she was here because Dahlia had sent her, indeed as a plan to catch them off guard and become queen, but that she only let Dahlia think she was on her side so that she could see her family again. She told them that Dahlia had trapped her in an eternal sleep as punishment for killing her own child, allowing her only to wake to live one day each century. After a thousand years she had finally forgiven her this time, but would only allow Freya to remain awake if she helped her. The blonde had told her aunt she would, but now told her siblings she was determined to find another way without letting Dahlia get what she wanted. She thought that if Dahlia died the spell would be broken.

Klaus re-entered the room after Freya had explained the rest of the story, and said that he might be willing to let her help them kill Dahlia if she could prove herself their sister. Freya herself had no idea how to do this but suddenly Bonnie was struck with inspiration. "What if I carry out a spell to let us see the Other Side? Esther was a witch so I can summon her and get her to prove Freya her daughter." Everyone seemed to like this idea and soon she, Kol, Davina and Freya were setting up for the spell.

Kol pulled her aside. "This is a very strong spell."

Bonnie touched her heart. "Are you worried about me? I'm touched." She rolled her eyes and tried to walk back over but Kol grabbed her arm to pull her back. She saw Davina's eyes on them out of the corner of her eye and tried to pull away but Kol was a lot stronger than her.

"If you start bleeding I'll stop the spell."

"No!" She whispered as quietly as possible, trying not to worry the others. "This is the only way Klaus will believe Freya and then we can work together to defeat Dahlia."

"If you start bleeding, I'll stop the spell." He repeated and finally let go of her.

Biting her lip, she stood in the circle they had marked out with salt and took Davina's hand in one of hers and Freya's in the other. She needed to channel their power for this spell to work. "Videamus inferno. Videamus inferno. Videamus inferno." The three of them chanted and she pictured the ex-queen in her head as vividly as possible. "Videamus inferno. Videamus-" as she opened her eyes but continued chanting she saw Esther in front of her, gazing at Freya. The other two girls stopped chanting and Freya stepped forwards, dropping her hand but Davina remained clutching it on the other side. "Videamus inferno. Videamus inferno."

"Mother," whispered Freya. "It's me. Remember," her voice cracked. "You called Finn and I your little Huggin and Muggin." She took another step forward. "On the day Father left for war you were combing my hair when he entered to say goodbye. He knelt down beside us and told me he was calling his sword Rawthul after the early morning sun. Its hilt was golden, like the colours of our hair. He said it would remind him of his favourite girls while he was in battle. That we'd be by his side, no matter how far afield he travelled."

Esther hugged her daughter. "You did not need to remind me, my daughter, my beautiful first born." She stroked through her daughter's hair. "I knew you to be my Freya as soon as I saw you."

"Videamus inferno. Vide-" Bonnie paused to cough and blood came out. She saw Davina's nose beggining to bleed as well. Everyone had been entranced by the sight of Esther, but hearing the sound Kol looked over. When he saw what was happening he pushed through and broke the salt barrier, causing Esther to disappear and Freya to be left being held by no-one. Davina let go of her hand to wipe the blood away from her face and Bonnie collapsed, but Kol caught her before she blacked out.

 ** _Next Time: Everyone works together to put down Dahlia, and Klaus and Caroline finally get coronated._**


	14. Coronation

**_Chapter 14:_**

 ** _Previously: Klaus was about to be made king when his long lost sister showed up. Believing her story, Bonnie carried out a spell to get Esther to confirm Freya's identity but it took a lot of her energy and she blacked out._**

 ** _July 1492_**

When Bonnie woke up the first thing she felt was a cool pressure on her forehead. Her eyes fluttered open to see Caroline and Elena beside her, looking worried. Kol and Davina were behind them, talking in hushed tones but they approached when they saw she was awake. "How do you feel?" Asked Elena and put her hand against Bonnie's forehead to take her temperature.

The brunette shook her head, shrugging her off. "Tired. I think I just need to sleep it off."

"Okay," said Caroline, squeezing her hand briefly. "I'd better get going." It was then that Bonnie noticed the golden gown she was wearing and saw the others dressed in silver. She shook her head.

"I've gotten you this far!" she told the girl she'd been tasked to care for. "I refuse to miss your coronation."

Caroline smiled widely at her. "Thank you so much for everything Bonnie. I couldn't have gotten this far without you."

"You couldn't have gotten anywhere without me," Bonnie teased. She gave her friend a quick hug and then gestured for everyone to get out. They all did, bar one. "Kol." Bonnie chastised. "I need to get dressed."

"Seeing you naked once was more than enough for me darling." She rolled her eyes.

"What is it that you need then?"

He shrugged and paused before finally saying, "you should worry about yourself once in a while rather than just other people." And with that he turned around and left. She shook her head in confusion and watched him leave before getting ready herself.

* * *

"Aunt Dahlia," Elijah greeted leisurely to his aunt, dressed in silver to his bronze. "How lovely to see you again."

"Pleasure," Dahlia returned the greeting, though she seemed rather distracted. "When do we have to get down to the procession?" Suddenly she gasped as she was stabbed in the back with a dagger. She turned and saw Freya behind her.

"You?" The blonde said, her voice dripping with the glory of vengeance. "Never."

"You dare to defy me!" Dahlia hissed as she felt the last of her breath leave her. Her nephew Kol and her niece Rebekah appeared, pulling a coffin.

Kol patted it leisurely. "Night-night Auntie."

* * *

Finally. Klaus thought as he sat in his opened up carriage dressed in all his golden finery, his princess Caroline by his side. They waved royally to their subjects on the procession throughout the kingdom, occurring at night due to this being the Kingdom of the Night. The peasants all cheered and the royal court marched in a procession before them, dressed in silver and bronze. They alone wore glistening gold. His lips only quirked up wider and wider as they got closer to the cathedral. His parents were gone, his siblings had incapacitated Dahlia, no-one was going to stop him from getting what he was owed. "Long live Klaus! Long live Caroline!" Called out the villagers and Klaus could barely hold in his laughter at the irony of it.

When they reached the cathedral he got out first, regally, and took Caroline's hand. He could feel her shaking and hear her quickened pulse so as their robes blew out behind them and they walked slowly towards the place of God, he whispered very quietly. "Relax, luv."

The Royal Court, the foreign nobles and the peasants who could squeeze into the already crowded room followed them inside but at the threshold they parted ways and Klaus went to the left while Caroline continued onwards. He waited in the room he had been told to, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for the music queuing him to leave the room. He could hear cheering outside from the peasants who couldn't come in and wondered how many of them knew that the face of a monster hid behind that of the man soon to become their king.

As the trumpets sounded and the choir sang the smirk grew on his face. Go time. At the slowest pace he'd ever walked, he made his way down the hallowed entryway. Down the long walk, past the stained glass window and the pews full of admiring courtiers. They all bowed as he came past but his eyes were fixed on the end of this walk. There stood the archbishop and his beautiful Caroline, glowing in a golden light.

He was at the top of the room now and both Caroline and the archbishop lowered themselves, though he saw Bonnie reminding his wife what to do with his supernatural vision. He took the throne designated for him and Caroline sat down beside him, straight as a rod. "We are gathered here today in front of the eyes of God and of you all," began the archbishop. "On this the twenty first day of July in the year of our lord 1492, to celebrate the royal coronation of Prince Niklaus Mikaelson of the Kingdom of the Night and of his consort Princess Caroline Mikaelson of the Kingdom of Light." He called for the room to accept them and they all called back to him that they did, most heartily so. Next the archbishop came before them and said to Klaus, "will you Niklaus solemnly swear to govern the Peoples of the Kingdom of the Night, according to the laws and customs already set forth? Will you to all your power cause Law and Justice to be executed correctly? Will you preserve unto the Bishops, the Church and the Clergy all such rights and privileges as do appertain to them? And will you promise to keep the Law of God sacred?"

"All this I will do," he vowed, well aware of the irony that he a cursed creature was chosen to honour 'the word from heaven'. He'd given up in religion after he'd turned, found it held no truth for him anyway.

"And do you Caroline," continued the archbishop, "swear to honour and aid your husband in any way he does need it? To govern your people righteously and kindly?"

"All this I will do." She repeated and he shot a smile to her. The archbishop began to say a prayer as a golden canopy was held over them and then he took the holy water and drew a cross on each of their foreheads. The canopy was removed and his gold cloak was taken away to be replaced with a red fur trimmed one. The choir sung out and he was handed the orb and sceptre to receive. He held them, looking down on his people. The power was intoxicating.

Now the archbishop was by the altar, with a priest beside him. The archbishop held up the crown and prayed as he held it above Klaus' head, "O God, the crown of the faithful, bless we beseech thee and sanctify this thee servant. And as thou dost this day set a crown of pure gold upon his head, so enrich his royal heart with thine abundant grace and crown him with all princely virtues through the King Eternal." He placed the crown on Klaus' head and the court cried out "GOD SAVE THE KING!"

After Caroline and Klaus had finished their stately walk and were outside, the crowds cheered loudly and Elijah handed Klaus a golden and black mask while Bonnie gave Caroline hers, in silver and blue. The blonde looked to her adviser, she'd had a lot to remember today and she wasn't sure what was happening now. She followed Klaus though, and pulled on her mask and then he took her hand and guided her down the steps. They danced through the streets, leading the whole kingdom. The procession was reminiscent of the one to get to the cathedral, but this time they were on foot and they were more wild. They sung and danced through the night until the sun begin to rise and then the royals were escorted back to the palace.

* * *

"Your majesty," Caroline giggled as the doors behind them closed and Klaus took her hand to pull her through to their bed.

"Your majesty." He bowed and then sprung up, causing her to shriek as he pinned her to the bed and kissed her thirstily. Curving into each other, they were both hungry for more, and they had a few hours. Plenty of time.

"Good morning Caroline, Klaus." Said Freya kindly. Her brother just nodded briefly but her sister in law offered her a smile and sat down beside her. Klaus took the spot at the head of the table.

"I thank you all for your support, we finally have what we wanted, and our enemies are out of the way." He turned to Rebekah and Elijah. "I trust you have put our aunt's body somewhere safe." The two of them nodded. "If that is done then I have one more announcement-"

Freya's loud gasp interrupted him as she brushed against Caroline, causing the family's eyes to all go over to her. "I have an announcement too brother." She looked at Caroline. "You are with child."

 _ **Next Time: Bonnie writes to Nora. Klaus and Caroline deal with their unexpected news.**_


	15. Choices

**_Chapter 15:_**

 ** _Previously: Klaus and Caroline got coronated after the siblings successfully put down Dahlia. When Freya touched Caroline she sensed another life inside of her and told everyone._**

 ** _July 1492._**

Klaus' senses were always hyper aware but in this moment everything seemed blurred. His vision wasn't clear. All he he could see was Caroline's shocked face, her mouth moving as she talked to Freya. All he could hear was muffled like he was underwater. All he could feel was a burning numbness. Suddenly it exploded. "This is not possible!" He roared at his new sister, banging his fist against the table. "WHY ARE YOU LYING TO ME?"

"NIKLAUS!" Yelled Elijah and then softer. "Listen." He gestured to Caroline and taking a deep breath, Klaus tried. What he heard was her rapid heartbeat, and another, softer one.

His eyes moved up to his wife's and his voice came out weak when he spoke. "You have been unfaithful to me?"

"No of course not!" Caroline looked horrified.

"But it is not possible!" Klaus growled. "I am a vampire. I am dead. I cannot procreate!"

"But you're not just a vampire," said Freya. "You're also a wolf- and wolves can have children."

Klaus had stood up without his own awareness and knelt down beside Caroline, pressing his head against her stomach. He heard a joking comment from Kol but Davina ushered him out and the others soon followed, leaving just the two of them alone in the room. "I'm sorry for insinuating anything about you." Klaus said blankly. Caroline didn't reply to it.

"I can't believe this." She whispered instead. "I didn't think it was possible anymore, not since your mother explained that vampires couldn't procreate and tried to get me to have children with another," he clenched his fists at the mention of the demon mother who'd turned he and his siblings into monsters without their consent, who'd lied to him about whose child he was. She was the whole reason his father had treated him so awfully. And Mikael. The man who'd whipped him and called him boy and tied him to a post and berated him. He remembered a tear sliding down his face as his father had him pinned down and had a sword to his throat. He'd truly believed Mikael was going to murder him, and then he did. Dear God. Who was he fooling here?! He'd had the worst parental figures imaginable, what had ever made him think even for a second that he could be a good father to this child? He'd not done well with Marcel the first time around, why should this be any better?

"Klaus?" Caroline's soft voice broke through his inner thoughts as she tried to reach out and take his hand, aware he was pulling away. He snatched his hand away from hers and stood up abruptly.

"You should leave." he told her.

She did a double take. "What? Kl-"

"Go. Quickly." He ordered. "Before I change my mind."

He put his head in his hands and waited to hear her footsteps taking this golden opportunity to get away from him and all of this, to take her child home to her kingdom. She could find another man to love her and parent her child, anyone would be better than him.

He heard footsteps, but not away from him. Caroline came around his other side and pulled his head up so he was looking at her. "I'm not turning my back on you, not ever again." Said the blonde confidently, then she tipped her head to the left and hissed "And you'd better never turn your back on me either, or God help you, there will be Hell to pay." A moment of weak selfishness overcame him... and he nodded.

* * *

Elena sat forlornly in the palace gardens until Elijah approached her, sitting down beside her on a bench in front of a fountain. She attempted to smile at him but he wasn't falling for that. "Elena, what is wrong?"

She sighed. "It is selfish of me and nothing that you nor I can change... but when Freya told us that Caroline was pregnant..."

She trailed off, unwilling to say it. What an awful friend she was. She hadn't been pleased, she'd been- "you were jealous."

She shrugged. "I've always wanted a family. I'd, um, thought that Stefan might be the man I started one with." Elijah nodded, his eyes downcast and she reached out her hand. "I'm so sorry-"

"No." He interrupted. "You should never apologise for telling me about your feelings. We spoke our vows in the church and promised to honour, help and listen to each other." He squeezed her hand gently. "Even if there is nothing I can do to help you with this, I would be amiss if I did not listen."

Smiling at his kind, eloquent words, Elena pressed her hands against the bench and kissed him, briefly but thankfully.

* * *

Seeing the rose held out to her out of the corner of her eye, Bonnie looked up to see the youngest Mikaelson prince stood in front of her. She rolled her eyes, but took the rose and placed it beside her on the bench. Kol took a seat on her other side and then he took her hand. Her head snapped down to where their hands lay and her expression quirked in confusion. "What do you think you're doing?"

He didn't reply, he just kissed her. In the first second she gasped in surprise. In the next two she let herself enjoy his lips against hers once more. In the fourth she pushed him away. "Kol!" She whisper-yelled, glancing around. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You're married, and Davina loves you!"

"I love her too!" Kol said, his voice the most full of emotion and least cavalier she'd ever heard it. "But I can't deny what I feel for you. I've told Davina how I feel and she told me to find out what's going on between us. She said she trusts me and my feelings for her enough to let me see what else I feel!" Bonnie did a double take at that. It gave her a serious sense of deja vu to sitting on one of these same benches with Nora. Kol's cousin had told her a very similar statement about Mary-Louise understanding her feelings, and that she wanted to explore them. And then she had never seen her again. She had to talk to Davina.

Attempting to get up, she was stopped by Kol but she pushed off his arm. "I need to go think." She told him. She needed to think? Why did she need to think? What she and Kol had had been a one night only thing right? Right?

* * *

Davina sat in her and her husband's rooms, looking at a new spell to distract herself. She knew Kol was out there telling Bonnie how he felt about her and despite a curious feeling to watch, she couldn't bring herself to, so she'd sat as far away from the window as possible to stop herself from being tempted. She'd never been in love before, but she knew this was it.

At a knock on the door she turned her head, wondering who it was. Kol wouldn't be back this soon, and there was no way he'd knock anyway. It was probably someone wanting something then, that's all people seemed to come to her for.

The door swung open and in entered her rival for Kol, but Bonnie looked stressed and confused, not predatory and competitive. "Are you alright?" Asked Davina. "I assume from your expression that he told you." She really did like Bonnie; as a witch, as a girl. She was loyal, kind, powerful and beautiful. The reasons Kol was attracted to her were clear.

"So it's true?" Asked Bonnie. "He said you want him to explore his feelings."

Davina nodded. "I love him. I don't want him to feel tied down to me and resent me for it." She glanced down. "I know neither of us had any choice in this marriage, but my feelings for him were immediate and overwhelming. I would never want to hurt or... restrict him." Letting out a sigh, "so if he said his feelings were for you and not me, I would step aside."

Bonnie took her hand and squeezed it. "He loves you Davina." She looked up. Kol had never told her in so many words. "He told me just now. And even if he hadn't, I would know from the way he looks at you." Bonnie's eyes became a little sadder as if she knew now what she had to do, but it was the last thing she wanted to do. Davina nodded, wanting her to continue. "I... was just trying to figure out what I feel for Kol, and I think I know now." Bonnie took a deep breath and lowered her eyes slightly. "I... don't feel the way about him the way I know he does when he looks at you."

Davina couldn't help the happiness that gave her, no matter how selfish it was. If she hadn't been so wrapped up in her joy, maybe she would have noticed the badly hidden regret on Bonnie's face, she was, after all, the girl who gave up everything for everyone else. "Tell him," she whispered. "But do it gently. Don't you dare hurt him."

* * *

Turning the snapped off piece of wood over in her hands, Nora didn't hear the single servant still loyal to her call out. When she was tapped hesitantly on the shoulder she didn't turn around either, though this time she was aware. "M-my lady," stuttered the frustratingly simple servant. "A letter came for you." They put the letter down on the arm of her chair and hurried out of the dimly lit, mournful room. It reflected her own feelings, dresses in black as she was to mourn her fiancée.

She put her handcrafted stake down on the chair, took the letter in her hand, and without looking at it, prepared to toss it to the flames, when she felt a flare of magic go through her. It didn't feel like Dahlia's magic though, dark and evil. It felt... good and pure. Ripping the seal quickly before she changed her mind, Nora read the letter.

 _Nora,_

 _I wrote to tell you that Kol told me he had feelings for me._

Nora's breath hitched. Bonnie had written to tell her this? How cruel. But before she could stop reading her eyes had skimmed down and she saw the words 'I couldn't stop thinking about you'. She forced herself to re-read from where she had been instead of skipping down to the words.

 _They told me you betrayed everyone, but then when we discovered Dahlia's I realised you hadn't wanted to do it, and I think everyone deserves a second chance._

 _I think we deserve a second chance._

 _So, I suppose, really, I wrote to tell you that I l that no matter the feelings I undoubtedly have for your cousin, I still care for you Nora. I want to give us a chance, and I hope you do too. I'm not sure what you'll want to do with this information; ignore it, come and find me, send me a similar back, but whatever you do, I just thought you aught to know._

 _Yours,_

 _Bonnie._

* * *

Kol sighed as he read over the letter one more time. It must have been the hundredth time, but it was the last piece of her he had. He hadn't seen her for so long and it hurt every time he read the letter, but it was a bearable hurt. The feeling of touching something she had touched, shaped, written, for him, was better than the one of trying to fake that he was fine to his family.

His eyes caught the words ' _I've tried to write this out at least ten times and each time I've thrown it to the flames_ ', and in a moment of strength- or maybe it was weakness, he got those two confused nowadays- he threw it onto the fire. A hand on his chin, he watched as it crumpled into a ball from the heat, watched as the edges blackened and slowly it moved in, like the feelings of compression he'd felt on his heart since she'd left. He let it burn, and prayed to anyone listening that it would help him forget her.

 ** _Next Time: Five months in the future Bonnie and Nora are still together, but Kol is struggling to move on. Caroline's baby endangers her._**


	16. Memories

_**Chapter 16:**_

 _ **Previously: Kol confessed his feelings for Bonnie but she decided to choose Nora so she didn't break up him and Davina. Klaus wanted to leave because he thought he would be a terrible father, but Caroline convinced him to stay.**_

 _ **December 1492**_

Caroline groaned as she tried to squeeze into her dress for the New Year's ball they were holding tonight instead of a Christmas one. She'd only been fitted for it a couple of weeks ago but her stomach had grown rapidly even since then.

"Need a hand?" Asked a familiar voice at the door and Caroline's head swung over there.

"Bonnie!" A grin on her face, she waddled over to her best friend, who helped her by running to meet her.

"First thing's first," her best friend said and focused her magic on the dress, expanding it to fit Caroline properly.

"Oh thank god," the blonde said. "You're a life-saver. Literally. I'd forgotten what it felt like to be able to breathe." The two friends giggled and sat down on Caroline and Klaus' bed. "How have you been? How's Nora?"

Bonnie smiled. "Great, there's been a couple of arguments along the way, but other than that it's been pretty blissful. As much as I love you guys, it's been so... peaceful to get away. The last couple of months have been like a beautiful dream." Caroline smiled at her, glad she was happy. "And I did worry that if we stayed here any longer Kol would kill her." The Original had been glaring at his cousin constantly since she had shown up at the palace to tell Bonnie she shared her feelings. Luckily though, he'd been able to get over it, somewhat, since Bonnie and Nora had left. He and Davina seemed genuinely happy too, though sometimes Caroline wondered if he wasn't over her best friend yet. "And you?" Asked Bonnie. "How's your life been going?" She touched her friend's bump. "You're huge."

"Gee thanks," Caroline chuckled but they both paused when she felt a kick.

"She's strong," Bonnie observed.

Caroline gave her a look. "She?"

"I have a feeling," Bonnie replied. "And you know to trust my feelings." Caroline couldn't argue with that.

* * *

"Wow, this is beautiful." Elena observed as she stared around at the hanging lights in the ballroom which was beginning to fill up with guests.

"It should be." Said Rebekah, appearing beside her brother and her sister in law. "Caroline and I spent weeks planning it."

Elijah chuckled. "You two should team up more often." His sister grinned her agreement before grabbing her husband's hand and pulling him onto the dance floor, unbothered about Stefan's complaints that "I don't dance!"

Elena saw her best friends on the floor and hurried down the stairs to join them, dragging Elijah along behind her. She enveloped Bonnie in a hug and grinned over her shoulder at Caroline. "I've missed us all being together."

"I'm going to leave you ladies to catch up," Elena's husband interjected and hurried off towards a business acquaintance. The three of them giggled at Elijah's abrupt exit before sitting down to chat.

* * *

Kol downed a glass of bourbon as he sat on a chair alone in Bonnie's darkened old room. Normally he wasn't a fan of such crude alcohol but he needed something vulgur right now. He could hear the loud music from downstairs but he was in no mood to join the festivities. The past few months had been different; out of sight, out of mind they'd all said, but she wasn't, not really. She'd always been lurking there and her reappearance was like stabbing into a nearly healed wound and reigniting it. The pain was worse than it had ever been before.

A flick of a hand from the door and a candle flickered on, lighting up his face. "Kol," it was her. "What are you doing in my room?" She was in a rose pink gown with her hair hanging loose and gorgeous. Her eyes glittered in the dark lighting and her lips spoke to him without moving. He stood up and she took a step back. Was she afraid of him? "Kol." She said his name again, more nervous than surprised now and he wished she was saying it in a different way. He hadn't realised how close he'd gotten to her until he'd unpurposefully backed her up against the wall. She was just so entrancing.

Reaching a hand out to stroke her hair, he whispered, "so soft." She glanced up at him. "Do you remember that night last Christmas?" He saw her eyes shut briefly and knew she was remembering it too.

* * *

 _Bonnie delivered her gift on behalf of King William and Queen Elizabeth to King Mikael and Queen Esther; as a sign of good faith and a wish of a merry Christmas. Just this month the kingdoms had called off their fifteen year war and this was the first joint ball held together in her lifetime; she'd been more than a little worried it would end in bloodshed. Thankfully though, all seemed to be going well so far._

 _After the gift-giving the kings and queens retreated to a reception room to discuss some deal, but the ball was now in full swing. Bonnie glanced around at all the swirling figures as she held her drink, wishing she had one to dance with, but everyone seemed partnered up. She placed her drink down on a table with a huff of resignation but began to feel an insistent uncomfortable prickling on the back of her neck, like someone was staring at her. Reaching up to touch it, she was beaten by massaging hands. They started on her neck but slowly began to explore down between her shoulder blades, slow and sensual. She let out the smallest of gasps and lent her head back naturally as her body curved to the touch. Her eyes shut as she enjoyed the feeling of the hands on her back._

 _It was when she opened her eyes and saw a face glancing at them oddly that she snapped back to reality and spun around. "This room is full of people!" She stared up into dark villainous eyes that probably should have scared her, but somehow she found them attractive._

 _"So it's privacy you want, darling?" The man took her hand, continuing to rub it as they walked. As if in a trance, she let him lead her out of the ballroom and into a depersonalised bedroom, clearly a spare. He shut the door behind them, then advanced towards her like a predator, pushing her back slowly onto the bed and leaning over her, arms trapping her like a cage. Her heart was beating frantically and only continued to do so as his hands went around her back and found the strings of her corset, loosening them with ease. She gasped and clutched her dress to hold it up for a second, causing him to run a hand down her arm in a comforting gesture. "What's wrong?"_

 _She felt herself blush with embarrassment as she whispered. "I am a virgin." She had hoped he wouldn't hear at the low volume she whispered, but clearly he did._

 _He traced his finger along her cheek, pushing hair behind her ear. "That is nothing to be ashamed of love," he said. "In fact it only makes me all the more attracted to you. I would love to strip you of your chastity." A roguish grin appeared on his face at the words, but then he leant down and kissed her softly. "Don't worry. I will go slow and gentle." She sighed then slowly nodded. "I promise."_

* * *

"I kept my promise," he reminded her. "But now I find myself wanting something a little different." His hands snaked around her hips but she managed to find it in her to shove him away.

"That was in the past," she reminded him in response, her voice hoarse.

"It doesn't have to be." He replied.

She shook her head. "It is."

* * *

 _He pushed into her slowly, running a hand along her cheek as he felt himself pushing through her barrier. He couldn't believe that he was really the first to enter this beautiful woman. Surely she had admirers, or were the men back home in the Kingdom of Light all brainless idiots? He couldn't believe she didn't have a husband yet._

 _Gradually, her whispers of fear shifted to gasps of pleasure and he grinned; pleased that he was the first to hear those sounds from her. Feeling a burning feeling at the thought of another touching her, he realised he wanted to be the only one to hear those sounds._

* * *

"Davina-"

"I love her." He said. "But not like I love you. I can't live without you."

"Bonnie!"

The Bennett witch shuffled a more than respectable distance away from him as they both heard her girlfriend calling her name. "I'm in my room!" Bonnie called out and began to walk towards the door. Kol grabbed her arm, just as Nora appeared in the doorway.

"Is there a problem here?" She looked over at her cousin but Bonnie pulled away, hurrying over and grabbing something from the desk by her bed before hurrying back over to Nora, sparing Kol the briefest of glances over her shoulder as she left.

* * *

 _"What is your name?" She asked, embarrassed she hadn't asked it before._

 _He grinned a razor sharp smile as he stood like an angel or a demon at the door with his white shirt undone to show his chest. She remembered her hands on that chest, the scratches she had made on both it and his back as she clung on. "Kol." Her heart fell. No. "Kol Mikaelson." No._

* * *

Bonnie gave Caroline an unsure look. "So you're certain there's been no dangerous or unusual side effects?"

Her brunette best friend rolled her eyes at her blonde one as Caroline replied for the tenth time. "Yes Bonnie! Why are you so adamant there should be?"

Bonnie shrugged. "Klaus is a hybrid, this has never happened before. I just feel like nature will need to find a balance."

She was aware of how ominous that sounded as she spoke the words. Elena swatted at her. "Quit scaring her Bon."

"Sweetheart, it's almost midnight." Klaus announced as he came up behind a now nervous Caroline, taking her waist gently and kissing her cheek from behind. She took his hand and they headed over to the thrones.

"Come on," Elena told her friend, who was still lost in thought; and led her over to their respective partners.

Klaus clinked his glass as he stood with his queen in front of their thrones. All the guests turned to their King. "This past year found my family much different than we have ever been, and far more united." He looked around to his siblings and siblings in law, even to Bonnie, causing a happy feeling in her stomach to be included as family rather than 'witch', before looking at Caroline and her bump. "Let's toast to another year of family. Always and forever." He raised his glass and tapped it with his wife's before downing it. The others followed suite and then every person in the room turned to another and kissed them. This was the first year Bonnie had had someone at a New Year's party, and she treasured the feel of Nora's lips against her. Her girlfriend wrapped her arms around her neck, pulling her closer. Eventually when they had to pull apart so that Bonnie could breathe, she nestled her head in the crook between Nora's face and her shoulder.

She glanced across to look at her friends but saw Kol holding Davina, and staring at her.

* * *

Rebekah held her sister's hands tight. "Must you leave so soon?" She asked Freya. "It feels as though you are always going."

The blonde witch sighed. "I wish I did not have to, but I must go Rebekah. My coven needs me." She embraced her only sister tightly. "I promise I will return. As I always do."

Reluctantly, Rebekah stepped back and took Stefan's hand. Everyone else had already said their goodbyes except for Klaus and Caroline, so the others moved back to allow the King and Queen over.

"Thank you so much for everything Freya," Caroline hugged her sister in law. "I will never forget your kindnesses."

Freya touched her five month pregnant belly. "I will try my best to be back for my niece or nephew soon, but if I am not, tell them their Auntie Freya loves them." Caroline squeezed her hand and nodded with a smile before stepping back.

Klaus moved into his wife's place, saying, "I am sorry for how I treated you when you first arrived. You _**are**_ my sister Freya, always and forever." A smile crept onto her face and it remained as he kissed her cheek. "Come visit soo-"

Suddenly Caroline screamed then collapsed onto the floor, causing all eyes to dart to her. Klaus let go of his sister's hand and vamp sped over, but he still didn't manage to get to her before she collapsed. "Caroline." He whispered her name over and over, desperation dripping from his voice. "Caroline, love, wake up."

"What the hell just happened?" Asked Stefan, stepping forwards and pulling Rebekah with him. Muttering some sort of curse, Klaus bit into his wrist and shoved it to Caroline's mouth, trying to push it down for her, unconscious as she was. Everyone was panicking, racing around, trying to work out what to do when Caroline gasped and came back to. They all crowded around, asking if she was okay as she breathed heavily.

"Back away," Commanded Freya and they all obeyed, save Klaus. The blonde witch bent down and took Caroline's hand, gently nudging her brother out of the way. "What do you feel Caroline?"

Between panting breaths, Caroline struggled to say, "Like something's. Trying. To force. Its. Way. Out. From. Inside of me!" Freya looked to the others and then back to her sister in law.

"You need to have the baby now."

 _ **Next Time: In the final chapter Caroline's labour turns lethal while Bonnie re-thinks her feelings.**_


	17. The End

_**Chapter 17:**_

"Aah!" Caroline let out a violent scream that probably scared away any remaining guests as she pushed, squashing Klaus' hand on one side and Elena's on the other.

The brunette let out an indignant "OW!" causing Caroline to look over. "Right, sorry."

Bonnie, Freya and Davina stood by the door of the bed, chanting. Meanwhile, the rest of the family waited outside, pacing back and forth as they worried about the Queen. Ladies in waiting came back and forth trying to wet Caroline's head with a cloth but she shoved them away with the hand still attached to Klaus' while simultaneously berating her husband for getting her pregnant.

"Push again!" Called out Freya between her chants so Caroline gritted her teeth and did so. She felt agonising pain; worse than childbirth had ever been described to her before and wondered if it was because the baby was something supernatural. It was being born so early; what if it didn't even survive. "You can't stop!" Freya told her, seeing her panic setting in. "Push again!"

Caroline screamed as she pushed as hard as she could but she felt like she could feel... fangs biting her from the inside of her body. She felt physically and mentally drained, and her skin was deathly pale. "Come on!" Encouraged Elena from her side. "You can do it!"

"Be brave for me love." Klaus begged. "Just a little longer."

She pushed again and Freya cried out that she could see a head. One more push. One more. Caroline felt herself fading out of consciousness before she could, but she smiled briefly as she heard the sound of an infant; her baby was alive.

* * *

Elena rocked the innocent little baby in her arms as she sat in the throne room with the family. They had heard crashing and screams from upstairs earlier but now all was silent, which only terrified her more. She wiped away a tear from her eye as she shushed in a broken but hopefully somewhat comforting way to the now as good as orphaned baby, before passing her niece to Rebekah. She wasn't the only one crying, Bonnie was sobbing in Nora's arms, saying something about how this was all her fault. Davina had tears in her eyes as she hugged Kol and both Stefan and Rebekah had clearly been crying as well. Elena gave Stefan a brief hug before she went into Elijah's warm embrace. "Why did this have to happen?" She whispered brokenly. "How could the world be so cruel?"

"I don't know, min kjaere." Elijah spoke in a choked up voice.

* * *

Klaus' eyes widened in amazement as he looked down at the beautiful little blood covered baby his sister was pulling out. He turned to grin at Caroline but saw her eyes seemed frozen looking down towards their child, while her mouth was unmoving as well. Her body was totally stationary but still he lent over her, whispering her name and shaking her over and over again.

"No" and her name seemed to be all he could say as he futilely tried to feed her blood. He could hear a low drone in the background, could hear crying, but he pushed them away, leaving him and his frozen wife alone in the room.

Grabbing the nearest object he threw it at the wall as hard as he could, causing a crash and a dent. He did it again and again, but it didn't help him feel any better.

He wasn't even aware of his screaming and shouting and cursing until he collapsed to his knees beside Caroline. A sob wracked his body as he whispered "please don't leave me, please don't leave me, please don't leave me!" This couldn't be happening. Who would be so cruel as to take his light away from him?

He crawled onto the bed and pulled her corp-body into his arms, just letting himself _**really**_ break down and cry for the first time in centuries. Shutting his eyes as he rocked her unsteadily, he prayed that this was just a nightmare. Yes. They'd wake up snuggled together in bed, safe and warm, and her heartbeat strong and steady. He'd convinced himself of it so well that when he peeled open his eyes it was to the horror that she was still lying there. Why hadn't he fed her blood before the birth? Why hadn't he done anything? The weight of guilt and regret pressed down upon him like a crushing weight and he hung his head low. She could still be here.

Suddenly there was a gasp and he snapped his head up and his eyes open, looking at her with his mouth hanging open. Reaching out to feel her, to see if this was real, he was stopped when she put her hand down to her stomach. Gently, he moved the hand away, taking it in his. "She's fine." He whispered. "She's alive and she's better than fine." A wide smile appeared on Caroline's face and she threw her arms around him.

"Klaus..." As she lent into his neck, she spoke, her voice croaky. "I'm so... hungry."

* * *

Bonnie took Nora out of hearing range (at least she hoped so) of the vampires. They were all taking turns looking after the baby anyway so hopefully they wouldn't listen in. "What's wrong love?" Her girlfriend asked, taking her hand. All Bonnie wanted was to cry into Nora's shoulder about the loss of her best friend and let her comfort her, but she knew that would be the wrong thing to do. Being here, with Kol, had made her realise that her feelings for him weren't gone, and that the ones she held for Nora, while still there, weren't so strong. She'd missed Nora while she'd been gone, but she hadn't known much about her. They'd spent little time together before the Originals had sent her away and she'd loved the fantasy of being with her; the romantic moment they'd shared in the rain or the sparks she'd felt when they touched. With Kol it was different. She'd despised everything he stood for and when she found out the man she'd slept with was him she'd been horrified, but he'd never given up on her. He'd been unending with his feelings for her, and it had eventually made her realise that her feelings were unending as well, no matter how much she tried to hide them behind his being a vampire, or his being married. She pressed her lips to Nora's forehead and whispered. "I'm so sorry. Be happy," before swiftly turning and heading back to the room where the others were gathered. She had been prepared to take Kol aside next, but when she entered the room what she saw was a horde of crying or shocked faces. Her eyes fell on the blonde head holding the little baby Mikaelson princess and she let out a gasp. "Caroline? H-how is this possible?" Caroline looked up briefly to give her a quick smile before her eyes returned to her daughter.

"We don't know fully," Her voice was a careful whisper as she rocked the infant, as if worried she would taint her daughter's young ears with talk of the monsters of the night. "We think maybe it was her blood in my system." Bonnie's mouth dropped.

"That turned you? You turned? You're one of them?" She didn't miss the hurt glanced thrown to her from all around the room, particularly Kol's. "Sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean that."

"It's okay Bon." Caroline replied. "And yes, I'm becoming one of them. I had to come see my daughter before anything else, but now I need to go complete the transition." She handed her daughter over to her best friend. "Could you hold Isabella?"

"Isabella?" Bonnie gazed down at the coo-eyed infant as Caroline passed her over, swathed in blankets. "That's beautiful."

"We decided on our favourite boy and girl name on Christmas Eve," said Klaus, a smile on his face as he looked at his daughter and then took his wife's hand. "Let's go love."

As Bonnie held the baby in her arms she felt a lingering presence behind her and turned to find Kol stood there. The rest of the room had emptied and he came over to sit beside her. "I noticed my cousin left."

She nodded, turning her face to Isabella. "I, uh, told her that my feelings for her aren't as... strong as I thought."

"Oh really?" Kol's nonchalant tone made her roll her eyes. "I know the feeling." Her eyes shot across to him.

"What are you talking about?"

"I've been trying to drown my longing for you with my love for Davina but it's not fair to her, and it's not fair to you, and it's not fair to me." He took her face in his hands. "I love you Bonnie Bennett." His lips cautiously began to move down towards her but, tired of waiting, she moved up to meet him first. For a couple of seconds the fireworks went off between them and she let herself drown in Kol, until she heard a little cry and looked down to see their movement had awoken Isabella. She giggled and shifted her best friend's daughter. "Sorry _your highness_." Kol chuckled as well and helped her with the baby.

* * *

 ** _Epilogue: Twelve Years Later_**

"Mother! Father!" Called out a voice from outside the doors and they suddenly burst open. The whole court turned around from where the King and Queen had been blessing the peasants to see the twelve year old blonde haired greeny-blue eyed princess dressed in a rich sapphire gown, a sheepish expression covering her pale features. "Uh, sorry to interrupt but I need some help." Seeing her aunt Bonnie by the side of the room she grabbed her hand and pulled her upstairs, detailing as she went how she'd "only thought the spell would teach my maid a lesson for being rude, not turn her into a frog!" Bonnie rolled her eyes at her husband, who was wearing a proud grin, as she left. Kol could hardly keep in his sniggers as his brother and sister in law peered after their daughter, before trying to return to their task. Charity had never been Klaus' thing but Caroline had initiated this tradition eight years ago when they went to go visit Davina and her new husband King Kaleb and saw them doing it. Caroline had instantly fallen in love with the idea, and Klaus was pretty awful at telling her no.

When the blessing was finally done the Royal family gathered in the dining hall. "I assume you solved your little problem?" Kol asked his niece as she came in with his wife beside her.

Isabella nodded and giggled a little nervously as Kol winked at her. He kissed Bonnie quickly when she came over and then they sat down to eat. The table had been a lot emptier for a few years; what with Freya often being off with her coven, Davina leaving eleven years ago to go live with Kaleb, Rebekah sucking the cure out of its previous occupant's body eight years ago and leaving with Stefan to go live in some secret (probably boring peasant) location. They'd all decided it was for the best that his sister didn't tell them her residence so that they could keep it a secret that she had the cure in her veins, but the couple did come visit them and their niece often. Elena and Elijah had decided to remain but ten years ago the doppelgänger had become a vampire. Everyone had thought Klaus would be furious, but in fact he hadn't minded whatsoever, he hadn't made another hybrid since his daughter had been born, just used the existing ones to protect his family.

Caroline held out her arms for her daughter and Isabella hurried over, glad her mother wasn't mad at her. Both the King and Queen were constantly worried about their daughter activating the werewolf part of her DNA and becoming a full fledged trybrid, so her desperate calls whenever her magic went wrong were a bit of a heart stopper for them. Kol looked across the table and locked eyes with Elijah, the two brothers sharing a look of amusement at the overprotective royal couple, while their wives chatted. Kol looked between them, thinking for a brief selfish moment how perfect it would be if Bonnie would only agree to turn, but then he shook his head to himself. He knew why, and even somewhat agreed with why, she wouldn't turn; she was a witch. Bonnie loved being a witch, loved teaching Isabella about her heritage, _**their**_ heritage. It wasn't her now thirty year old face while he stayed nineteen that bothered him, no, he'd think she was beautiful even when she was old and grey. It was the idea of losing her that terrified him- and what he'd do in her absence.

 _ **AN: Thank you so much for all the support for this story, I hope you enjoyed the ending :)**_


End file.
